Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Boosts Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) Price Target to $57.00

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) had its target price lifted by analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $52.00 to $57.00 in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “market perform” rating on the asset manager’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ price target suggests a potential upside of 2.44% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on Lazard from $51.00 to $44.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. StockNews.com cut shares of Lazard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Lazard from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. JMP Securities lifted their price objective on Lazard from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on Lazard from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Lazard has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.00.

Lazard Stock Performance

Shares of LAZ stock traded up $0.49 during trading on Friday, reaching $55.65. 386,531 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,035,651. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $52.93 and its 200 day moving average is $50.77. The company has a market capitalization of $6.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.13 and a beta of 1.40. Lazard has a 1 year low of $35.56 and a 1 year high of $61.14. The company has a current ratio of 2.24, a quick ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.09. Lazard had a return on equity of 42.20% and a net margin of 8.28%. Equities research analysts expect that Lazard will post 2.06 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Lazard

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Lazard by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,250,049 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $113,357,000 after purchasing an additional 206,295 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in Lazard by 2.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,948,167 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $98,149,000 after purchasing an additional 55,469 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Lazard by 0.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,813,553 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $91,392,000 after purchasing an additional 15,151 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Lazard by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,772,237 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $89,285,000 after acquiring an additional 37,681 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Claro Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Lazard by 10,306.7% in the third quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 1,235,793 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $62,259,000 after purchasing an additional 1,223,918 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

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.