Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) Raised to "Outperform" at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Key Points

• Lazard has been upgraded by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from "market perform" to "outperform" with a target price of $65.00, indicating a potential upside of 16.56% from its last close.
• The asset manager's quarterly earnings surpassed expectations, reporting $0.52 EPS against a consensus estimate of $0.38, and revenue increased by 16.2% compared to the previous year.
• Currently, Lazard has a consensus rating of "Hold" with three analysts rating it as a Buy, while there are also three Hold ratings and two Sell ratings.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note issued on Monday, MarketBeat reports. The firm currently has a $65.00 target price on the asset manager's stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods' target price indicates a potential upside of 16.56% from the stock's previous close.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. JMP Securities set a $60.00 price objective on Lazard and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Lazard from $38.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Citigroup reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Lazard in a report on Monday, July 14th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Lazard from $33.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Lazard from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Lazard currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $52.33.

Lazard Stock Up 4.8%

LAZ opened at $55.7660 on Monday. Lazard has a twelve month low of $31.97 and a twelve month high of $61.14. The company has a quick ratio of 2.53, a current ratio of 2.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $51.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $46.43. The company has a market cap of $6.29 billion, a PE ratio of 19.23 and a beta of 1.35.

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

Institutional Trading of Lazard

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Teza Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Lazard by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. Teza Capital Management LLC now owns 8,059 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $387,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Lazard by 12.5% in the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 2,259 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $98,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp boosted its stake in Lazard by 1.2% in the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 25,191 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,209,000 after acquiring an additional 302 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Lazard by 57.2% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 918 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 334 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Lazard by 1.8% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 19,558 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $847,000 after acquiring an additional 343 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.80% of the company's stock.

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.

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