Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) Downgraded to Market Perform Rating by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) was downgraded by stock analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report issued on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have a $57.00 price target on the asset manager’s stock, down from their previous price target of $65.00. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ target price points to a potential upside of 9.53% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com downgraded Lazard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Lazard from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on Lazard in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $51.00 target price on the stock. JMP Securities upped their price target on Lazard from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Lazard from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $60.00 to $63.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $52.29.

Lazard Trading Up 3.1 %

LAZ stock opened at $52.04 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $54.60 and a 200-day moving average of $48.28. The company has a quick ratio of 2.24, a current ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72. The company has a market cap of $5.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.73 and a beta of 1.38. Lazard has a twelve month low of $34.25 and a twelve month high of $61.14.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The asset manager reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.41 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $646.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $644.22 million. Lazard had a net margin of 8.28% and a return on equity of 42.20%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.10 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Lazard will post 2.18 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Lazard

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Lazard by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,948,167 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $98,149,000 after acquiring an additional 55,469 shares during the last quarter. Interval Partners LP bought a new position in shares of Lazard in the second quarter valued at about $1,626,000. Point72 Europe London LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Lazard during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,779,000. Arizona State Retirement System bought a new stake in shares of Lazard during the 2nd quarter worth about $934,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Lazard by 4.1% in the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,043,754 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $78,031,000 after buying an additional 79,889 shares during 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.