Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) Stock

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) had its price target upped by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $52.00 to $57.00 in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a market perform rating on the asset manager’s stock.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the company. UBS Group boosted their price target on Lazard from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Lazard from $51.00 to $44.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Wolfe Research cut shares of Lazard from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Lazard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, JMP Securities increased their target price on shares of Lazard from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Lazard has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $55.00.

Lazard Trading Down 1.2 %

NYSE:LAZ opened at $54.52 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $52.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $50.88. Lazard has a one year low of $35.56 and a one year high of $61.14. The firm has a market cap of $6.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.72 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.24 and a current ratio of 2.24.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.09. Lazard had a net margin of 8.28% and a return on equity of 42.20%. Equities analysts anticipate that Lazard will post 2.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. Lazard’s payout ratio is 75.19%.

Institutional Trading of Lazard

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in 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 lifted its holdings in shares of Lazard by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,948,167 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $98,149,000 after buying an additional 55,469 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Lazard by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,813,553 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $91,392,000 after buying an additional 15,151 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Lazard by 2.2% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,772,237 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $89,285,000 after buying an additional 37,681 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Claro Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Lazard by 10,306.7% during the third quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 1,235,793 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $62,259,000 after acquiring an additional 1,223,918 shares during the period. 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.