Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) Rating Increased to Outperform at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a report published on Monday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm currently has $65.00 price target on the asset manager’s stock, up from their previous price target of $60.00.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on LAZ. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Lazard from $33.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Lazard from $38.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Citigroup restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Lazard in a research note on Monday, July 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Lazard from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, JMP Securities set a $60.00 price objective on Lazard and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $52.33.

Lazard Trading Up 1.6%

Shares of NYSE:LAZ opened at $56.8610 on Monday. Lazard has a 12 month low of $31.97 and a 12 month high of $61.14. The company has a quick ratio of 2.53, a current ratio of 2.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $51.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $46.46. The firm has a market cap of $6.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.61 and a beta of 1.35.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.14. Lazard had a return on equity of 34.33% and a net margin of 9.96%.The firm had revenue of $796.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $674.13 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.52 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 16.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Lazard will post 4.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. Lazard’s payout ratio is currently 68.97%.

Institutional Trading of Lazard

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Ranger Investment Management L.P. grew its stake in Lazard by 43.5% in the 2nd quarter. Ranger Investment Management L.P. now owns 505,385 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $24,248,000 after buying an additional 153,150 shares during the last quarter. State of Wyoming acquired a new position in shares of Lazard in the second quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Lazard by 324.4% in the second quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC now owns 2,962 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $142,000 after purchasing an additional 2,264 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its stake in shares of Lazard by 30.2% during the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,943 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $93,000 after purchasing an additional 451 shares during the period. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors acquired a new stake in Lazard during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $497,000. 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.