Lazard’s (LAZ) Outperform Rating Reaffirmed at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated their outperform rating on shares of Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) in a report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $49.00 price objective on the asset manager’s stock, down from their previous price objective of $51.00.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on LAZ. Wolfe Research upgraded Lazard from a peer perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $42.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded Lazard from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Lazard from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Morgan Stanley restated an overweight rating and set a $58.00 price target on shares of Lazard in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, TheStreet upgraded Lazard from a d+ rating to a c+ rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $45.67.

Lazard Stock Performance

Lazard stock opened at $38.98 on Friday. Lazard has a 12-month low of $25.82 and a 12-month high of $42.24. The company has a current ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.51. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $39.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $35.35.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The asset manager reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.08. Lazard had a positive return on equity of 37.47% and a negative net margin of 0.63%. 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 previous year, the business posted ($0.26) earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 41.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Lazard will post 3.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 17th. Investors of record on Monday, May 6th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 3rd. Lazard’s payout ratio is presently -571.41%.

Insider Activity at Lazard

In related news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 75,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.35, for a total value of $2,951,250.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 227,448 shares in the company, valued at $8,950,078.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 3.86% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Lazard

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Lazard by 1,165.9% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 176,491 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $6,142,000 after acquiring an additional 162,549 shares during the last quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC lifted its stake in Lazard by 25.2% in the fourth quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 140,285 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,882,000 after buying an additional 28,250 shares during the period. UBS Group AG lifted its stake in Lazard by 84.3% in the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,019,121 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $31,603,000 after buying an additional 466,301 shares during the period. Argent Trust Co lifted its stake in Lazard by 55.1% in the third quarter. Argent Trust Co now owns 47,659 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,478,000 after buying an additional 16,930 shares during the period. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd lifted its stake in Lazard by 22.5% in the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 245,137 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $7,602,000 after buying an additional 44,976 shares during the period. 54.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.