The Goldman Sachs Group Boosts Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) Price Target to $40.00

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) had its price objective raised by equities research analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group from $35.00 to $40.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “sell” rating on the asset manager’s stock. The Goldman Sachs Group’s price target points to a potential downside of 13.67% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on LAZ. UBS Group boosted their target price on Lazard from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Lazard in a report on Monday, April 28th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Lazard from $44.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley downgraded Lazard from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $56.00 to $33.00 in a report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Lazard from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $44.33.

Lazard Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:LAZ opened at $46.33 on Thursday. Lazard has a one year low of $31.97 and a one year high of $61.14. The stock has a market cap of $5.22 billion, a PE ratio of 17.42 and a beta of 1.28. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $40.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $48.74. 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 results on Friday, April 25th. The asset manager reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.27. The company had revenue of $669.16 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $698.39 million. Lazard had a return on equity of 44.58% and a net margin of 8.98%. Lazard’s revenue was down 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.66 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Lazard will post 4.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 64,539 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.56, for a total value of $2,940,396.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 170,285 shares in the company, valued at $7,758,184.60. This trade represents a 27.48% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 3.86% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Lazard

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Lazard in the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Calton & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Lazard in the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in Lazard during the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Lazard during the 4th quarter valued at $46,000. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its stake in Lazard by 54.3% during the 4th quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 977 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 344 shares during the period. 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.