By otakuyassine3@gmail.com 
Lazard (NYSE:LAZ – Free Report) had its price objective cut by The Goldman Sachs Group from $51.00 to $44.00 in a report released on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a sell rating on the asset manager’s stock.
A number of other analysts also recently commented on the stock. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Lazard from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Wolfe Research lowered Lazard from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Lazard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Lazard from $59.00 to $51.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of Lazard from $57.00 to $52.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lazard currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.50.
Read Our Latest Research Report on Lazard
Lazard Stock Up 2.8 %
Shares of Lazard stock opened at $51.06 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72, a current ratio of 2.24 and a quick ratio of 2.24. Lazard has a 1-year low of $35.56 and a 1-year high of $61.14. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $53.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $49.97. The company has a market capitalization of $5.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.34 and a beta of 1.40.
Lazard (NYSE:LAZ – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The asset manager reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.41 by ($0.03). Lazard had a return on equity of 42.20% and a net margin of 8.28%. The company had revenue of $646.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $644.22 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.10 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Lazard will post 2.13 EPS for the current year.
Lazard Announces Dividend
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.92%. Lazard’s payout ratio is 79.68%.
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Claro Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Lazard by 10,306.7% during the 3rd quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 1,235,793 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $62,259,000 after purchasing an additional 1,223,918 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Lazard by 5,770.1% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,064,431 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $53,626,000 after acquiring an additional 1,046,298 shares during the last quarter. Azora Capital LP acquired a new stake in shares of Lazard in the third quarter valued at $13,560,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Lazard by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,250,049 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $113,357,000 after acquiring an additional 206,295 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Lazard in the third quarter valued at approximately $8,430,000. 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.
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