Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Cuts Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) Price Target to $60.00

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) had its target price cut by investment analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $65.00 to $60.00 in a research report issued on Monday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has a “moderate buy” rating on the asset manager’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ target price indicates a potential upside of 21.98% from the stock’s current price.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Lazard in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Citigroup reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Lazard in a report on Monday, July 14th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Lazard from $47.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Lazard from $38.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets began coverage on shares of Lazard in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $56.00 price target on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $54.43.

Lazard Price Performance

Shares of LAZ stock opened at $49.19 on Monday. Lazard has a twelve month low of $31.97 and a twelve month high of $61.14. The company has a current ratio of 2.53, a quick ratio of 2.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15. The company has a market capitalization of $5.55 billion, a PE ratio of 16.96 and a beta of 1.37. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $54.10 and a 200-day simple moving average of $47.84.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.14. Lazard had a net margin of 9.96% and a return on equity of 34.33%. The firm had revenue of $796.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $674.13 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.52 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 16.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Lazard will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Michael Gathy sold 617 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.37, for a total transaction of $34,163.29. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 32,475 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.09, for a total transaction of $1,756,572.75. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 183,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,913,290.66. This represents a 15.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 108,092 shares of company stock valued at $6,030,986. 2.26% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lazard

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LAZ. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Lazard by 22.5% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,723 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $295,000 after acquiring an additional 1,053 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Lazard by 5,409.2% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 25,287 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,095,000 after acquiring an additional 24,828 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Lazard by 164.1% in the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,244 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 773 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its stake in shares of Lazard by 11.0% in the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 57,095 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,472,000 after buying an additional 5,680 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Great Lakes Retirement Inc. grew its stake in shares of Lazard by 10.1% in the first quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc. now owns 20,907 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $905,000 after buying an additional 1,926 shares in the last quarter. 54.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.