Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) Cut to “Market Perform” at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded shares of Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research note released on Friday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has $57.00 price target on the asset manager’s stock, down from their previous price target of $65.00.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on LAZ. StockNews.com cut shares of Lazard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Lazard from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on Lazard in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $51.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley lowered 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 report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, JMP Securities upped their target price on Lazard from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $52.29.

Lazard Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE LAZ opened at $52.04 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $54.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $48.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.73 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a quick ratio of 2.24, a current ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72. Lazard has a 52-week low of $34.25 and a 52-week high of $61.14.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last posted 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 company had revenue of $646.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $644.22 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.10 EPS. Lazard’s quarterly revenue was up 21.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Lazard will post 2.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.84%. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 79.68%.

Institutional Trading of Lazard

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Richardson Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Lazard by 1,125.0% during the second quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 735 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 675 shares during the last quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Lazard during the 3rd quarter valued at $50,000. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new stake in Lazard in the 2nd quarter valued at $87,000. LWM Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in Lazard in the 2nd quarter worth $88,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lazard during the second quarter valued at about $150,000. 54.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.