The Goldman Sachs Group Lowers Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) Price Target to $44.00

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) had its target price lowered by The Goldman Sachs Group from $51.00 to $44.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “sell” rating on the asset manager’s stock. The Goldman Sachs Group’s price objective suggests a potential downside of 9.33% from the stock’s current price.

LAZ has been the topic of several other research reports. StockNews.com lowered Lazard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Lazard from $59.00 to $51.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of Lazard from $57.00 to $52.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Lazard from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut shares of Lazard from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $60.00 to $63.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Lazard currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.50.

Lazard Stock Performance

Shares of LAZ traded up $1.64 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $48.53. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 173,298 shares, compared to its average volume of 932,799. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.24 and a current ratio of 2.24. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $53.90 and its two-hundred day moving average is $49.89. Lazard has a one year low of $35.56 and a one year high of $61.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.47 billion, a PE ratio of 19.33 and a beta of 1.40.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lazard

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Lazard by 22.0% in the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 18,133 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $692,000 after acquiring an additional 3,265 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D bought a new stake in shares of Lazard during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,755,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Lazard by 19.3% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 481,406 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $18,370,000 after purchasing an additional 77,974 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP grew its holdings in Lazard by 66.7% in the 2nd quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 76,818 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,933,000 after buying an additional 30,729 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd raised its stake in Lazard by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd now owns 18,392 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $702,000 after purchasing an additional 589 shares in the last quarter. 54.80% of the stock is 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.