Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) Downgraded by Morgan Stanley to “Underweight”

Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) from an equal weight rating to an underweight rating in a report issued on Monday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. Morgan Stanley currently has $33.00 target price on the asset manager’s stock, down from their prior target price of $56.00.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on LAZ. UBS Group lifted their price target on Lazard from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of Lazard from $51.00 to $44.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Lazard from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered shares of Lazard from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $50.33.

Lazard Price Performance

LAZ stock opened at $34.04 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $3.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.80 and a beta of 1.27. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $48.54 and its 200 day moving average is $51.26. Lazard has a 52 week low of $31.97 and a 52 week high of $61.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.24 and a current ratio of 2.24.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.09. Lazard had a net margin of 8.98% and a return on equity of 44.58%. Research analysts predict that Lazard will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.88%. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio is 75.19%.

Insider Activity

In other Lazard news, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 64,539 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.56, for a total value of $2,940,396.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 170,285 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,758,184.60. This represents a 27.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 35,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.64, for a total transaction of $1,877,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 188,448 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,108,350.72. This trade represents a 15.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 189,078 shares of company stock valued at $9,120,541. Corporate insiders own 3.86% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Verition Fund Management LLC purchased a new position in Lazard during the third quarter valued at $605,000. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its position 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 worth $2,028,000 after purchasing an additional 728 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Lazard by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,948,167 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $98,149,000 after purchasing an additional 55,469 shares during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Lazard during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,399,000. Finally, Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC increased its position in shares of Lazard by 7.6% during the third quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 28,142 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,418,000 after acquiring an additional 1,987 shares in the last quarter. 54.80% of the stock is currently owned by 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.