Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Has Lowered Expectations for Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) Stock Price

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) had its price target decreased by investment analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $57.00 to $52.00 in a research report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “market perform” rating on the asset manager’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ price objective would suggest a potential upside of 11.16% from the company’s current price.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Lazard from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $60.00 to $63.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Lazard from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. UBS Group raised their price target on Lazard from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. JMP Securities boosted their price objective on Lazard from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Lazard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Lazard has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.17.

Lazard Stock Performance

Shares of LAZ opened at $46.78 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.24, a current ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72. The firm has a market cap of $5.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.64 and a beta of 1.40. Lazard has a 12 month low of $35.56 and a 12 month high of $61.14. The company’s fifty day moving average is $53.90 and its 200-day moving average is $49.89.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 the consensus estimate of $644.22 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.10 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 21.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Lazard will post 2.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd lifted its holdings in Lazard by 3.3% during the second quarter. Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd now owns 18,392 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $702,000 after acquiring an additional 589 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 589 shares in the last quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc. raised its holdings in 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 period. Richardson Financial Services Inc. lifted its stake in 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 buying 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 valued at $2,028,000 after buying an additional 728 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

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.