Wall Street Zen cut shares of Lazard (NYSE:LAZ – Free Report) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note published on Saturday,Wall Street Zen reports.
Several other research analysts also recently issued reports on LAZ. Capital One Financial set a $38.00 price objective on Lazard in a research report on Tuesday, October 6th. Weiss Ratings cut Lazard from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $35.00 price target on Lazard in a research report on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on Lazard from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price target on Lazard from $44.00 to $40.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 7th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.50.
View Our Latest Stock Report on Lazard
Lazard Stock Performance
Shares of LAZ stock opened at $37.71 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $4.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.47. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $39.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $44.57. Lazard has a 12-month low of $34.13 and a 12-month high of $58.75. The company has a current ratio of 2.66, a quick ratio of 2.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80.
Lazard (NYSE:LAZ – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.42 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $804.62 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $844.23 million. Lazard had a net margin of 5.55% and a return on equity of 20.76%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.56 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Lazard will post 1.93 EPS for the current year.
Lazard Announces Dividend
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 13th. Investors of record on Monday, November 2nd will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 2nd. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.3%. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 121.21%.
Insider Buying and Selling at Lazard
In other Lazard news, CEO Peter Orszag sold 125,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.52, for a total transaction of $5,440,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 260,942 shares in the company, valued at $11,356,195.84. The trade was a 32.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders own 0.95% of the company’s stock.
Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lazard
Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of LAZ. Bleakley Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Lazard by 2.7% during the first quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 11,111 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $472,000 after purchasing an additional 289 shares during the last quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Lazard by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 13,129 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $478,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares during the last quarter. Moran Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Lazard by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Moran Wealth Management LLC now owns 46,266 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,965,000 after purchasing an additional 472 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Lazard by 25.9% in the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,317 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $98,000 after purchasing an additional 477 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Lazard by 37.2% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,872 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $68,000 after purchasing an additional 508 shares during the period. 54.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
About Lazard
Lazard, Ltd. is a global financial advisory and asset management firm that serves corporations, financial institutions, governments, sovereign entities and individuals. Its Financial Advisory business provides advice on mergers and acquisitions, strategic matters, capital structure, restructuring, capital raising and other complex financial transactions.
Through its Asset Management business, Lazard offers investment strategies across equities, fixed income, private markets, alternatives and multi-asset portfolios.
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