Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) Cut to Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) was downgraded by equities researchers at Morgan Stanley from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a note issued to investors on Monday, MarketBeat reports. They currently have a $63.00 target price on the asset manager’s stock, up from their prior target price of $60.00. Morgan Stanley’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 18.69% from the company’s previous close.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of Lazard in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $51.00 target price on the stock. JMP Securities boosted their target price on shares of Lazard from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com cut shares of Lazard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Lazard from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Lazard from $59.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.43.

Lazard Stock Down 2.9 %

LAZ opened at $53.08 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.24, a current ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72. The stock has a market cap of $5.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.15 and a beta of 1.38. Lazard has a twelve month low of $31.77 and a twelve month high of $61.14. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $54.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $47.66.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The asset manager reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $646.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $644.22 million. Lazard had a net margin of 8.28% and a return on equity of 42.20%. The firm’s revenue was up 21.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.10 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Lazard will post 2.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lazard

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LAZ. Comerica Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Lazard in the 1st quarter worth about $446,000. Cetera Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Lazard during the 1st quarter valued at about $270,000. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in Lazard by 161.1% during the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 27,765 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,060,000 after purchasing an additional 17,130 shares in the last quarter. Hunter Perkins Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Lazard by 26.0% during the 2nd quarter. Hunter Perkins Capital Management LLC now owns 36,985 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,412,000 after purchasing an additional 7,640 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Continuum Advisory LLC increased its stake in Lazard by 58.9% during the 2nd quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 890 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 330 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.