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

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued their outperform rating on shares of Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) in a research note released on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has a $49.00 target price on the asset manager’s stock, down from their previous target price of $51.00.

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

Lazard Stock Performance

NYSE:LAZ opened at $38.98 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $39.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $35.35. Lazard has a twelve month low of $25.82 and a twelve month high of $42.24. 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 (NYSE:LAZ) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 37.47% and a negative net margin of 0.63%. The firm had revenue of $765.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $678.57 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.26) EPS. The company’s revenue was up 41.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Lazard will post 3.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 17th. Investors of record on Monday, May 6th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 3rd. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.13%. Lazard’s payout ratio is -571.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lazard

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in LAZ. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Lazard in the 4th quarter worth approximately $47,063,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its position in shares of Lazard by 265.0% in the 3rd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 791,158 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $24,740,000 after buying an additional 574,379 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG grew its position in shares of Lazard by 84.3% in the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,019,121 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $31,603,000 after buying an additional 466,301 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Lazard by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,563,521 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $296,565,000 after buying an additional 436,034 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia grew its position in shares of Lazard by 150.3% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 531,900 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $18,509,000 after buying an additional 319,384 shares during the last quarter. 54.80% of the stock is currently 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.