Analysts Set Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) Target Price at $53.00

Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ - Get Free Report) has received a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the seven research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have issued a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $53.00.

LAZ has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Lazard from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Lazard from $59.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. JMP Securities raised their target price on shares of Lazard from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Lazard from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of Lazard in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They set an "equal weight" rating and a $51.00 target price on the stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lazard

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LAZ. Comerica Bank acquired a new position in Lazard in the first quarter worth $446,000. Cetera Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lazard during the first quarter valued at about $270,000. O Keefe Stevens Advisory Inc. raised its position in Lazard by 2.4% in the second quarter. O Keefe Stevens Advisory Inc. now owns 209,350 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $7,993,000 after acquiring an additional 4,851 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in Lazard by 161.1% in the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 27,765 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,060,000 after acquiring an additional 17,130 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hunter Perkins Capital Management LLC raised its position in Lazard by 26.0% in the second quarter. Hunter Perkins Capital Management LLC now owns 36,985 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,412,000 after acquiring an additional 7,640 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.80% of the company's stock.

Lazard Price Performance

Lazard stock traded down $0.47 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $56.64. The company had a trading volume of 357,958 shares, compared to its average volume of 933,549. Lazard has a 1 year low of $30.11 and a 1 year high of $61.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72, a current ratio of 2.24 and a quick ratio of 2.24. The company has a market capitalization of $6.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.65 and a beta of 1.38. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $53.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $47.04.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ - Get Free Report) 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). Lazard had a net margin of 8.28% and a return on equity of 42.20%. The company had revenue of $646.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $644.22 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.10 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 21.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Lazard will post 2.27 EPS for the current year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Lazard's dividend payout ratio is presently 79.68%.

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.