Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) Receives $54.17 Average Target Price from Brokerages

Shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) have received a consensus rating of “Reduce” from the seven ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $46.83.

LAZ has been the subject of several analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Lazard from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Wolfe Research downgraded Lazard from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on Lazard from $51.00 to $44.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. JMP Securities cut their price target on shares of Lazard from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Lazard from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $56.00 to $33.00 in a report on Monday.

Insider Activity at Lazard

In related news, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 64,539 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.24, for a total transaction of $2,919,744.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 234,824 shares in the company, valued at $10,623,437.76. This represents a 21.56 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 25,000 shares of Lazard stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.32, for a total value of $1,383,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 163,448 shares in the company, valued at $9,041,943.36. This trade represents a 13.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 189,078 shares of company stock valued at $9,120,541 over the last ninety days. 3.86% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Lazard

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Lazard in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $59,962,000. Amundi raised its position in Lazard by 31,967.0% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 936,676 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $46,886,000 after buying an additional 933,755 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Lazard by 98.7% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,284,711 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $66,137,000 after purchasing an additional 638,169 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in Lazard by 335.1% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 734,962 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $37,836,000 after purchasing an additional 566,051 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Lazard by 26.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,297,249 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $118,294,000 after purchasing an additional 483,696 shares during the last quarter. 54.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Lazard Trading Up 15.0 %

Shares of NYSE LAZ opened at $38.41 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72, a current ratio of 2.24 and a quick ratio of 2.24. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $47.10 and a 200 day moving average of $50.84. Lazard has a 1 year low of $31.97 and a 1 year high of $61.14. The stock has a market cap of $4.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.44 and a beta of 1.27.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.09. Lazard had a return on equity of 44.58% and a net margin of 8.98%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Lazard will post 4.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.21%. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 75.19%.

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.