Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Increases Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) Price Target to $65.00

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ - Free Report) had its price target upped by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $59.00 to $65.00 in a research note released on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has an outperform rating on the asset manager's stock.

LAZ has been the subject of a number of other reports. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Lazard from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. JMP Securities lifted their target price on shares of Lazard from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Friday. StockNews.com upgraded Lazard from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Lazard from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on Lazard in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They issued an "equal weight" rating and a $51.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lazard presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $53.00.

Lazard Stock Up 0.6 %

NYSE LAZ traded up $0.32 during trading on Friday, reaching $53.31. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,001,059 shares, compared to its average volume of 941,402. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $50.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $44.21. Lazard has a 1-year low of $25.82 and a 1-year high of $54.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.01 billion, a PE ratio of 34.30 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.94, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.60.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The asset manager reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.41 by ($0.03). Lazard had a return on equity of 41.78% and a net margin of 5.50%. The company had revenue of $646.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $644.22 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.10 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 21.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Lazard will post 2.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.75%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. Lazard's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 129.03%.

Insider Transactions at Lazard

In related news, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 86,728 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.02, for a total value of $4,338,134.56. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 1,640,995 shares in the company, valued at $82,082,569.90. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 86,728 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.02, for a total value of $4,338,134.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 1,640,995 shares in the company, valued at $82,082,569.90. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 87,770 shares of Lazard stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.08, for a total value of $4,219,981.60. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 1,553,225 shares in the company, valued at approximately $74,679,058. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 176,497 shares of company stock worth $8,658,086. 3.86% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of LAZ. Continuum Advisory LLC raised its position in Lazard by 58.9% in the 2nd quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 890 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 330 shares during the last quarter. Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd increased its stake in Lazard by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd now owns 18,392 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $702,000 after buying an additional 589 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in 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. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new stake in Lazard during the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. Finally, Great Lakes Retirement Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Lazard by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc. now owns 18,646 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $939,000 after buying an additional 624 shares during the last quarter. 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.