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

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reiterated by equities researchers at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods in a note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $49.00 target price on the asset manager’s stock, down from their prior target price of $51.00. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ target price would suggest a potential upside of 25.93% from the stock’s current price.

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

Lazard Stock Up 0.1 %

Lazard stock traded up $0.02 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $38.91. 128,557 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,169,744. Lazard has a 52-week low of $25.82 and a 52-week high of $42.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -40.11 and a beta of 1.46. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $39.31 and its 200-day moving average price is $35.32. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The asset manager reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.08. Lazard had a negative net margin of 2.93% and a positive return on equity of 16.43%. The company had revenue of $765.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $678.57 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.26) earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 41.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Lazard will post 3.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lazard

In other news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 227,448 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,950,078.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 3.86% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lazard

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of LAZ. Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its stake in Lazard by 100.0% during the 3rd 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 grew its stake in Lazard by 19.0% during the 3rd 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 grew its stake in Lazard by 4.1% during the 3rd 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 grew its stake in Lazard by 38.5% during the 3rd 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. grew its stake in Lazard by 3.9% during the 3rd 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.

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.