Wells Fargo & Company Has Lowered Expectations for Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) Stock Price

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) had its price objective reduced by Wells Fargo & Company from $59.00 to $51.00 in a research note released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the asset manager’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on the company. StockNews.com lowered Lazard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Lazard from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. JMP Securities upped their target price on Lazard from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Lazard from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered Lazard from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $60.00 to $63.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.17.

Lazard Stock Performance

NYSE:LAZ opened at $46.78 on Tuesday. Lazard has a fifty-two week low of $35.56 and a fifty-two week high of $61.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.24 and a current ratio of 2.24. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $53.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $49.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.64 and a beta of 1.40.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The asset manager reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.41 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $646.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $644.22 million. Lazard had a return on equity of 42.20% and a net margin of 8.28%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 21.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.10 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Lazard will post 2.18 EPS for the current year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.28%. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 79.68%.

Institutional Trading of Lazard

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its position in shares of Lazard by 12.2% in the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 6,672 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $343,000 after purchasing an additional 728 shares during the last quarter. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC lifted its position in shares of Lazard by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC now owns 45,549 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,345,000 after acquiring an additional 1,838 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Lazard by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,250,049 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $113,357,000 after purchasing an additional 206,295 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in Lazard in the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,322,000. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Lazard by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 69,760 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,515,000 after purchasing an additional 1,190 shares in the last quarter. 54.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.