Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) Price Target Lowered to $52.00 at Morgan Stanley

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) had its price target lowered by Morgan Stanley from $59.00 to $52.00 in a report issued on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an underweight rating on the asset manager’s stock.

LAZ has been the subject of several other research reports. Wall Street Zen cut Lazard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $47.00 target price (down from $62.00) on shares of Lazard in a research note on Wednesday. Bank of America assumed coverage on Lazard in a research note on Monday, January 26th. They set a “buy” rating and a $65.00 target price for the company. UBS Group decreased their target price on Lazard from $48.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of Lazard in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.88.

Lazard Trading Up 2.6%

Shares of LAZ stock opened at $45.95 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $5.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.08, a PEG ratio of 0.36 and a beta of 1.42. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $46.90 and a 200-day moving average of $49.38. The company has a current ratio of 2.28, a quick ratio of 2.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85. Lazard has a 1-year low of $32.84 and a 1-year high of $58.75.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.68 by $0.12. Lazard had a return on equity of 33.04% and a net margin of 7.49%.The business had revenue of $892.11 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $876.32 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.78 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Lazard will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 9th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 9th. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 91.74%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Lazard news, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 69,170 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.76, for a total value of $2,819,369.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 210,942 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,597,995.92. This trade represents a 24.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Christopher Hogbin sold 3,944 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.37, for a total value of $155,275.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $465,707.73. This trade represents a 25.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 80,999 shares of company stock valued at $3,292,962 in the last three months. Insiders own 3.86% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lazard

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LAZ. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Lazard in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $80,169,000. M&T Bank Corp grew its stake in Lazard by 2,763.4% in the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 1,405,899 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $68,270,000 after acquiring an additional 1,356,800 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Lazard by 13.5% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,807,320 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $427,685,000 after acquiring an additional 1,047,869 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Lazard in the second quarter valued at approximately $34,305,000. Finally, Algebris UK Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Lazard in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $24,424,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

About Lazard

Lazard Ltd. (NYSE: LAZ) is a leading global financial advisory and asset management firm, offering a comprehensive suite of services to corporations, governments and individuals. Founded in 1848, Lazard has built a reputation for providing independent advice and innovative solutions in complex financial transactions. The firm is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol LAZ and maintains its headquarters in Hamilton, Bermuda.

In its Financial Advisory segment, Lazard assists clients with mergers and acquisitions, restructurings, capital structure optimization and strategic planning.