Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) Downgraded to Hold Rating by StockNews.com

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) was downgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Monday.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on LAZ. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Lazard from $59.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. JMP Securities increased their price target on Lazard from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on Lazard in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $51.00 price target for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Lazard from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on Lazard from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Lazard has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.00.

Lazard Stock Performance

LAZ stock traded down $0.86 on Monday, reaching $52.45. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,099,704 shares, compared to its average volume of 942,145. Lazard has a 52 week low of $25.82 and a 52 week high of $54.72. The company has a market capitalization of $5.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.90 and a beta of 1.37. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $50.13 and a two-hundred day moving average of $44.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.60, a current ratio of 1.94 and a quick ratio of 1.94.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last issued 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 46.55% and a net margin of 8.28%. The business had revenue of $646.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $644.22 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.10 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 21.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Lazard will post 2.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Lazard

In other news, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 87,770 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.08, for a total transaction of $4,219,981.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 1,553,225 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $74,679,058. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 87,770 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.08, for a total transaction of $4,219,981.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 1,553,225 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $74,679,058. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 1,999 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.01, for a total value of $99,969.99. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 1,727,723 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $86,403,427.23. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 176,497 shares of company stock valued at $8,658,086 in the last three months. 3.86% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Lazard

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Lazard by 12.2% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 5,413 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $273,000 after purchasing an additional 589 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Callahan Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Lazard by 6.1% in the third quarter. Callahan Advisors LLC now owns 45,814 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,308,000 after purchasing an additional 2,619 shares in the last quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Lazard by 0.9% in the third quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 184,227 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $9,281,000 after purchasing an additional 1,655 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its holdings in shares of Lazard by 8.1% during the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 49,763 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,507,000 after acquiring an additional 3,717 shares in the last quarter. 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.