Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) Given New $51.00 Price Target at Wells Fargo & Company

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ - Get Free Report) had its price objective decreased by equities research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $59.00 to $51.00 in a report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an "equal weight" rating on the asset manager's stock. Wells Fargo & Company's target price points to a potential upside of 9.02% from the company's previous close.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on LAZ. StockNews.com downgraded Lazard from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. JMP Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Lazard from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of Lazard from $57.00 to $52.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Monday. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Lazard from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Lazard from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $60.00 to $63.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. One 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $53.17.

Lazard Price Performance

LAZ stock traded up $1.00 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $46.78. 1,324,701 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,042,200. Lazard has a 52 week low of $35.56 and a 52 week high of $61.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.64 and a beta of 1.40. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $53.90 and a 200 day simple moving average of $49.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.24 and a current ratio of 2.24.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The asset manager reported $0.38 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 business had revenue of $646.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $644.22 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.10 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 21.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Lazard will post 2.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Lazard

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd increased its holdings in Lazard by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd now owns 18,392 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $702,000 after purchasing an additional 589 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. grew its position in shares of Lazard by 12.2% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 5,413 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $273,000 after buying an additional 589 shares in the last quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc. increased its stake in shares of Lazard by 3.5% during the third quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc. now owns 18,646 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $939,000 after buying an additional 624 shares during the period. Richardson Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Lazard by 1,125.0% in the second 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. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Lazard by 1.8% in the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 40,425 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $2,028,000 after acquiring an additional 728 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.