Morgan Stanley Lowers Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) Price Target to $56.00

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) had its price objective trimmed by Morgan Stanley from $63.00 to $56.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an equal weight rating on the asset manager’s stock.

LAZ has been the topic of several other reports. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Lazard from $51.00 to $44.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Lazard from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Lazard from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Lazard from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Lazard currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $54.17.

Lazard Stock Performance

Shares of LAZ stock opened at $44.90 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $5.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.88 and a beta of 1.41. The company’s 50 day moving average is $50.83 and its 200 day moving average is $51.78. The company has a quick ratio of 2.24, a current ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72. Lazard has a 52-week low of $35.56 and a 52-week high of $61.14.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.09. Lazard had a net margin of 8.98% and a return on equity of 44.58%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Lazard will post 4.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.45%. Lazard’s payout ratio is currently 75.19%.

Insider Transactions at Lazard

In related news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 35,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.64, for a total transaction of $1,877,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 188,448 shares in the company, valued at $10,108,350.72. The trade was a 15.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 3.14% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Lazard by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,788,512 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $555,393,000 after purchasing an additional 81,559 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in Lazard by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 4,429,776 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $228,045,000 after purchasing an additional 240,938 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Lazard by 26.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,297,249 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $118,294,000 after purchasing an additional 483,696 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Lazard by 10.1% during 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 during the period. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its position in Lazard by 2.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,948,167 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $98,149,000 after purchasing an additional 55,469 shares during the period. 54.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.