Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) Price Target Lowered to $52.00 at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) had its price target decreased by investment analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $57.00 to $52.00 in a research note issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “market perform” rating on the asset manager’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ price target points to a potential upside of 13.07% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Lazard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley lowered Lazard from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $60.00 to $63.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Wolfe Research cut Lazard from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. UBS Group raised their price target on Lazard from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, JMP Securities boosted their price objective on Lazard from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.17.

Lazard Trading Down 2.8 %

Shares of NYSE:LAZ traded down $1.31 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $45.99. The company had a trading volume of 394,108 shares, compared to its average volume of 907,075. 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 has a 12 month low of $35.56 and a 12 month high of $61.14. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $54.16 and a 200 day simple moving average of $49.76. The stock has a market cap of $5.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.32 and a beta of 1.40.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $646.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $644.22 million. Lazard had a return on equity of 42.20% and a net margin of 8.28%. Lazard’s quarterly revenue was up 21.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.10 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Lazard will post 2.18 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Lazard

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Richardson Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in Lazard by 1,125.0% in the 2nd quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 735 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 675 shares in the last quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Lazard in the 3rd quarter valued at $50,000. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lazard during the 2nd quarter worth $87,000. My Legacy Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lazard during the 3rd quarter worth $215,000. Finally, King Wealth Management Group acquired a new stake in Lazard in the third quarter valued at about $227,000. 54.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.