Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) Stock Rating Reaffirmed by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reissued by research analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods in a research report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $49.00 price target on the asset manager’s stock, down from their prior price target of $51.00. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ price target would indicate a potential upside of 25.93% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research analysts have also weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $58.00 price objective on shares of Lazard in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com upgraded Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Wolfe Research upgraded Lazard from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. TheStreet upgraded Lazard from a “d+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on Lazard from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $45.67.

Lazard Price Performance

Shares of LAZ stock traded up $0.02 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $38.91. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 128,557 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,169,744. The company has a quick ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.51. Lazard has a fifty-two week low of $25.82 and a fifty-two week high of $42.24. The company has a market capitalization of $4.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -40.11 and a beta of 1.46. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $39.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $35.32.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The asset manager reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.08. Lazard had a positive return on equity of 16.43% and a negative net margin of 2.93%. The company had revenue of $765.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $678.57 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.26) EPS. Lazard’s revenue for the quarter was up 41.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Lazard will post 3.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Lazard

In related news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.35, for a total value of $2,951,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 227,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,950,078.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 3.86% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Lazard

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LAZ. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its stake in shares of Lazard by 100.0% during the third quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 31,600 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $980,000 after purchasing an additional 15,800 shares in the last quarter. Hunter Perkins Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Lazard by 19.0% during the third quarter. Hunter Perkins Capital Management LLC now owns 15,325 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $475,000 after purchasing an additional 2,450 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Lazard by 4.1% during the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 41,684 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,293,000 after purchasing an additional 1,658 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates increased its stake in shares of Lazard by 38.5% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 25,922 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $804,000 after purchasing an additional 7,210 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Lazard by 3.9% during the third quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 16,335 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $507,000 after purchasing an additional 606 shares in the last quarter. 54.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.