The Goldman Sachs Group Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) Stock

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) had its target price increased by The Goldman Sachs Group from $35.00 to $40.00 in a report released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a sell rating on the asset manager’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on LAZ. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Lazard from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $56.00 to $33.00 in a report on Monday, April 7th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Lazard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Lazard from $44.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Lazard from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Lazard from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lazard currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $44.33.

Lazard Price Performance

Shares of LAZ stock opened at $46.27 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $40.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $48.77. The stock has a market cap of $5.22 billion, a PE ratio of 17.39 and a beta of 1.28. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The asset manager reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.27. Lazard had a net margin of 8.98% and a return on equity of 44.58%. The company had revenue of $669.16 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $698.39 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.66 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Lazard will post 4.24 EPS for the current year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 5th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 5th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.32%. Lazard’s payout ratio is currently 69.69%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lazard

In other Lazard news, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 64,539 shares of Lazard stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.56, for a total value of $2,940,396.84. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 170,285 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,758,184.60. The trade was a 27.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 3.86% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lazard

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Lazard by 2,324.4% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,099,179 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $264,096,000 after purchasing an additional 5,847,608 shares during the last quarter. Amundi raised its stake in Lazard by 141.6% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 2,263,046 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $97,990,000 after buying an additional 1,326,370 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Lazard in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $59,962,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in Lazard by 98.7% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,284,711 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $66,137,000 after buying an additional 638,169 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Lazard by 335.1% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 734,962 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $37,836,000 after buying an additional 566,051 shares during the period. 54.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Lazard Company Profile

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.