Lazard’s (LAZ) Outperform Rating Reaffirmed at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reiterated by equities researchers at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $56.00 price objective on the asset manager’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $49.00. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ target price would indicate a potential upside of 15.51% from the company’s previous close.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Lazard from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Lazard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.50.

Lazard Stock Performance

Shares of LAZ stock opened at $48.48 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.89, a quick ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.13. The company has a market cap of $5.47 billion, a PE ratio of -138.51 and a beta of 1.40. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $39.48. Lazard has a 52 week low of $25.82 and a 52 week high of $48.64.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The asset manager reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $685.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $625.40 million. Lazard had a positive return on equity of 37.27% and a negative net margin of 0.63%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.24 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Lazard will post 2.73 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Lazard news, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 6,762 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.00, for a total value of $270,480.00. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 1,982,829 shares in the company, valued at $79,313,160. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 46,107 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.19, for a total transaction of $1,853,040.33. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 1,936,722 shares in the company, valued at $77,836,857.18. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 6,762 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.00, for a total value of $270,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 1,982,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $79,313,160. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 414,000 shares of company stock valued at $17,683,738. Insiders own 3.86% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Lazard by 943.5% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,963,865 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $82,227,000 after purchasing an additional 1,775,664 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC acquired a new stake in shares of Lazard during the first quarter worth $65,650,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Lazard in the fourth quarter worth about $47,063,000. Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in Lazard during the 1st quarter worth approximately $15,768,000. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its holdings in shares of Lazard by 150.3% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 531,900 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $18,509,000 after purchasing an additional 319,384 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.