Lazard's (LAZ) Hold (C+) Rating Reiterated at Weiss Ratings

Key Points

• Lazard's stock received a "hold (C+)" rating reaffirmed by Weiss Ratings, amidst a mixed outlook from other research firms.
• Target prices for Lazard's stock vary significantly, with estimates ranging from $38.00 to $65.00 by different analysts, reflecting diverse assessments of its performance.
• Institutional investors currently own 54.80% of Lazard's stock, indicating substantial institutional interest in the company.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "hold (c+)" rating reaffirmed by investment analysts at Weiss Ratings in a report released on Wednesday,Weiss Ratings reports.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on LAZ. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Lazard from $38.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. JMP Securities set a $60.00 target price on Lazard and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Lazard from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $60.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Monday, August 25th. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on Lazard in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. They issued a "market perform" rating and a $56.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Lazard from $47.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $55.14.

Lazard Stock Performance

LAZ stock opened at $49.08 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 2.53 and a quick ratio of 2.53. Lazard has a 1 year low of $31.97 and a 1 year high of $61.14. The company has a market cap of $5.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.92 and a beta of 1.37. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $54.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $47.74.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Michael Gathy sold 617 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.37, for a total transaction of $34,163.29. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 32,475 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.09, for a total value of $1,756,572.75. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 183,274 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,913,290.66. The trade was a 15.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 108,092 shares of company stock worth $6,030,986 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 3.86% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LAZ. Calton & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Lazard during the first quarter valued at about $28,000. State of Wyoming purchased a new position in shares of Lazard during the second quarter valued at about $38,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Lazard by 57.2% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 918 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 334 shares in the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. purchased a new position in Lazard in the second quarter worth about $49,000. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. purchased a new position in Lazard in the first quarter worth about $50,000. 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.

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