Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) Lowered to “Market Perform” Rating by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered shares of Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a report released on Friday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has $57.00 target price on the asset manager’s stock, down from their prior target price of $65.00.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on LAZ. JMP Securities upped their price target on 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 lowered shares of Lazard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Lazard from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $60.00 to $63.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on Lazard in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $51.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on Lazard from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Lazard currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $52.29.

Lazard Stock Up 3.1 %

LAZ opened at $52.04 on Friday. Lazard has a twelve month low of $34.25 and a twelve month high of $61.14. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $54.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $48.34. 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 firm has a market cap of $5.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.73 and a beta of 1.38.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last issued 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 company had revenue of $646.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $644.22 million. Lazard had a return on equity of 42.20% and a net margin of 8.28%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 21.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.10 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Lazard will post 2.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.84%. Lazard’s payout ratio is presently 79.68%.

Institutional Trading of Lazard

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd increased its position in shares of Lazard by 3.3% in the second quarter. Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd now owns 18,392 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $702,000 after acquiring an additional 589 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in Lazard by 12.2% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 5,413 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $273,000 after purchasing an additional 589 shares in the last quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc. increased its position in shares of Lazard by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc. now owns 18,646 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $939,000 after purchasing an additional 624 shares during the last quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. raised its stake in shares of Lazard by 1,125.0% during the 2nd quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 735 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 675 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Lazard by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 40,425 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,028,000 after buying an additional 728 shares during the last quarter. 54.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.