Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Cuts Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) Price Target to $52.00

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) had its target price reduced by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $57.00 to $52.00 in a research report sent to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a market perform rating on the asset manager’s stock.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on LAZ. Wolfe Research downgraded Lazard from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. UBS Group lifted their target price on Lazard from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. StockNews.com downgraded Lazard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley downgraded Lazard from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $60.00 to $63.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, JMP Securities lifted their price target on Lazard from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.50.

Lazard Stock Up 5.7 %

Shares of Lazard stock opened at $49.57 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $53.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $49.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72, a current ratio of 2.24 and a quick ratio of 2.24. The company has a market capitalization of $5.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.75 and a beta of 1.40. Lazard has a 1-year low of $35.56 and a 1-year high of $61.14.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The asset manager reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.41 by ($0.03). Lazard had a net margin of 8.28% and a return on equity of 42.20%. The business had revenue of $646.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $644.22 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.10 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 21.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Lazard will post 2.18 EPS for the current year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.03%. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 79.68%.

Institutional Trading of Lazard

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Claro Advisors LLC boosted its position in Lazard by 10,306.7% during the third quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 1,235,793 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $62,259,000 after purchasing an additional 1,223,918 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Lazard by 5,770.1% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,064,431 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $53,626,000 after purchasing an additional 1,046,298 shares during the period. Azora Capital LP bought a new position in shares of Lazard in the third quarter valued at approximately $13,560,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Lazard by 10.1% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,250,049 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $113,357,000 after acquiring an additional 206,295 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in Lazard during the third quarter worth $8,430,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

About Lazard

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.