Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) Rating Lowered to “Equal Weight” at Morgan Stanley

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) was downgraded by investment analysts at Morgan Stanley from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report issued on Monday, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have a $63.00 target price on the asset manager’s stock, up from their prior target price of $60.00. Morgan Stanley’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 11.07% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on LAZ. UBS Group increased their target price on Lazard from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Lazard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of Lazard in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $51.00 target price for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Lazard from $59.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, JMP Securities boosted their price objective on Lazard from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.43.

Lazard Stock Up 1.6 %

Lazard stock opened at $56.72 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 company has a market capitalization of $6.40 billion, a PE ratio of 22.60 and a beta of 1.38. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $53.94 and its 200 day moving average is $47.48. Lazard has a 12-month low of $30.99 and a 12-month high of $61.14.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The asset manager reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 period last year, the company earned $0.10 EPS. Lazard’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Lazard will post 2.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lazard

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Richardson Financial Services Inc. increased its position 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 valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 675 shares during the period. Continuum Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of Lazard by 58.9% in the 2nd quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 890 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 330 shares during the period. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lazard during the third quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Lazard during the second quarter valued at approximately $87,000. Finally, LWM Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in Lazard in the 2nd quarter worth about $88,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.