Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) Upgraded at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a report issued on Monday morning, Marketbeat reports. They currently have $65.00 price objective on the asset manager’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $60.00.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Lazard from $33.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Citigroup reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Lazard in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Lazard from $38.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. JMP Securities set a $60.00 price objective on Lazard and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Lazard from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Lazard has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $52.33.

Lazard Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of LAZ opened at $57.70 on Monday. Lazard has a 12-month low of $31.97 and a 12-month high of $61.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.90 and a beta of 1.35. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $51.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $46.61. The company has a current ratio of 2.53, a quick ratio of 2.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.14. Lazard had a net margin of 9.96% and a return on equity of 34.33%. The company had revenue of $796.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $674.13 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.52 earnings per share. Lazard’s quarterly revenue was up 16.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Lazard will post 4.24 EPS for the current year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. Lazard’s payout ratio is currently 68.97%.

Institutional Trading of Lazard

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Lazard by 2,324.4% in the first 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Lazard in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $66,547,000. Amundi grew its stake in shares of Lazard by 141.6% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 2,263,046 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $97,990,000 after acquiring an additional 1,326,370 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Lazard during the second quarter worth $34,305,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 638,169 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

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.