Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) Stock Rating Upgraded by BMO Capital Markets

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) was upgraded by equities research analysts at BMO Capital Markets to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on LAZ. Zacks Research lowered Lazard from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 22nd. Citigroup reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Lazard in a report on Monday, July 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Lazard from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $60.00 to $65.00 in a report on Monday, August 25th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Lazard in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Lazard from $47.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.14.

Lazard Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE LAZ opened at $51.71 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 2.53 and a quick ratio of 2.53. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $54.46 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $47.66. Lazard has a one year low of $31.97 and a one year high of $61.14. The firm has a market cap of $5.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.83 and a beta of 1.37.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.14. Lazard had a return on equity of 34.33% and a net margin of 9.96%.The firm had revenue of $796.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $674.13 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.52 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Lazard will post 4.24 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.95, for a total transaction of $2,847,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 227,915 shares in the company, valued at $12,979,759.25. This represents a 17.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 32,475 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.09, for a total value of $1,756,572.75. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 183,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,913,290.66. This represents a 15.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 108,092 shares of company stock worth $6,030,986 in the last ninety days. 3.86% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Lazard

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lazard during the 1st quarter worth $251,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Lazard by 9.7% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 287,574 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $12,452,000 after purchasing an additional 25,480 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its position in Lazard by 10.0% in the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 5,089 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $220,000 after purchasing an additional 461 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in Lazard in the first quarter valued at about $598,000. Finally, Citigroup Inc. raised its position in Lazard by 5.1% in the first quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 358,970 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $15,543,000 after purchasing an additional 17,418 shares during the last quarter. 54.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.