Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Cuts Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) Price Target to $58.00

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) had its price target cut by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $60.00 to $58.00 in a research note published on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the asset manager’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on the company. Citigroup restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Lazard in a research report on Monday, July 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $46.00 target price on Lazard and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Lazard from $38.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Zacks Research downgraded Lazard from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Lazard from $47.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Lazard currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $55.00.

Lazard Stock Performance

NYSE LAZ opened at $49.24 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $53.47 and its two-hundred day moving average is $48.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.46 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 2.53 and a current ratio of 2.53. Lazard has a fifty-two week low of $31.97 and a fifty-two week high of $61.14.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 23rd. The asset manager reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $782.43 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $739.91 million. Lazard had a return on equity of 37.15% and a net margin of 8.89%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.38 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Lazard will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 3rd will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 3rd. Lazard’s payout ratio is currently 79.05%.

Insider Activity at Lazard

In related news, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 32,475 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.09, for a total value of $1,756,572.75. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 183,274 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,913,290.66. The trade was a 15.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.95, for a total value of $2,847,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 227,915 shares in the company, valued at $12,979,759.25. This represents a 17.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 108,092 shares of company stock worth $6,030,986. 3.86% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lazard

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of LAZ. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Lazard by 2,324.4% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,099,179 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $264,096,000 after buying an additional 5,847,608 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Lazard during the 2nd quarter worth about $66,547,000. Amundi increased its holdings in Lazard by 141.6% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 2,263,046 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $97,990,000 after purchasing an additional 1,326,370 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in Lazard during the 2nd quarter worth about $34,305,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Lazard by 42.2% during the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,644,323 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $71,199,000 after purchasing an additional 487,574 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

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.