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

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ - Free Report) had its target price cut by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $57.00 to $52.00 in a research report report published on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a market perform rating on the asset manager's stock.

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

Lazard Stock Down 3.3 %

Shares of NYSE:LAZ traded down $1.54 during trading on Monday, hitting $45.76. 1,041,825 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,001,832. 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 firm's 50 day moving average price is $54.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $49.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.23 and a beta of 1.40. Lazard has a 12-month low of $35.56 and a 12-month high of $61.14.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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). Lazard had a return on equity of 42.20% and a net margin of 8.28%. The firm had revenue of $646.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $644.22 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.10 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 21.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Lazard will post 2.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Lazard's dividend payout ratio is currently 79.68%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lazard

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of LAZ. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Lazard by 10.1% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,250,049 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $113,357,000 after purchasing an additional 206,295 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in Lazard by 2.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,948,167 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $98,149,000 after buying an additional 55,469 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Lazard by 0.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,813,553 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $91,392,000 after acquiring an additional 15,151 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in Lazard by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,772,237 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $89,285,000 after purchasing an additional 37,681 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Claro Advisors LLC raised its stake in Lazard by 10,306.7% in the 3rd quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 1,235,793 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $62,259,000 after purchasing an additional 1,223,918 shares during the last quarter. 54.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.