StockNews.com Lowers Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) to Hold

StockNews.com cut shares of Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Wednesday morning.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Lazard from $58.00 to $54.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an outperform rating and set a $49.00 price objective (down previously from $51.00) on shares of Lazard in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Lazard from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $45.00.

Lazard Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:LAZ opened at $44.80 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $39.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $39.30. Lazard has a twelve month low of $25.82 and a twelve month high of $46.41. The company has a quick ratio of 1.89, a current ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.05 billion, a PE ratio of -128.00 and a beta of 1.40.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The asset manager reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.08. Lazard had a negative net margin of 0.63% and a positive return on equity of 37.27%. The firm had revenue of $765.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $678.57 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.26) EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 41.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Lazard will post 2.73 EPS for the current year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 17th. Investors of record on Monday, May 6th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 3rd. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -571.41%.

Insider Activity at Lazard

In related news, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 207,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.23, for a total value of $9,362,610.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 1,729,722 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $78,235,326.06. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 207,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.23, for a total value of $9,362,610.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 1,729,722 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $78,235,326.06. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 154,131 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.21, for a total transaction of $6,197,607.51. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 1,989,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $80,001,454.11. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 414,000 shares of company stock valued at $17,683,738. 3.86% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of LAZ. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Lazard by 943.5% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,963,865 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $82,227,000 after buying an additional 1,775,664 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC bought a new stake in shares of Lazard during the first quarter worth $65,650,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Lazard during the fourth quarter worth $47,063,000. Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Lazard during the first quarter worth $15,768,000. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its position in shares of Lazard by 150.3% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 531,900 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $18,509,000 after purchasing an additional 319,384 shares during the last quarter. 54.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.