Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) Price Target Raised to $40.00

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) had its price objective boosted by The Goldman Sachs Group from $35.00 to $40.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a sell rating on the asset manager’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Lazard in a report on Monday, April 28th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Lazard from $44.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley downgraded Lazard from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $56.00 to $33.00 in a research note on Monday, April 7th. UBS Group upped their price target on Lazard from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Lazard from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lazard presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $44.33.

Lazard Stock Up 0.3%

LAZ stock opened at $46.33 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $40.96 and a 200-day moving average of $48.72. Lazard has a fifty-two week low of $31.97 and a fifty-two week high of $61.14. The company has a market capitalization of $5.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.42 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.24 and a current ratio of 2.24.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last issued its earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The asset manager reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.27. The firm had revenue of $669.16 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $698.39 million. Lazard had a net margin of 8.98% and a return on equity of 44.58%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.66 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Lazard will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 5th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 5th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.32%. Lazard’s payout ratio is presently 69.69%.

Insider Transactions at Lazard

In related news, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 64,539 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.24, for a total value of $2,919,744.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 234,824 shares in the company, valued at $10,623,437.76. The trade was a 21.56% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 3.86% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. purchased a new position in Lazard in the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Calton & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Lazard during the first quarter valued at about $28,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Lazard in the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lazard in the 4th quarter valued at about $46,000. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Lazard by 54.3% during the 4th quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 977 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 344 shares during the period. 54.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Lazard Company Profile

Lazard, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a financial advisory and asset management firm in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Australia. It operates in two segments, Financial Advisory and Asset Management. The Financial Advisory segment offers financial advisory services, such as mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, shareholder, sovereign, geopolitical advisory, and other strategic advisory services, as well as restructuring and liability management, and capital raising and placement services.