Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) Given New $50.00 Price Target at Wells Fargo & Company

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ - Free Report) had its price target lifted by Wells Fargo & Company from $38.00 to $50.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the asset manager's stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Lazard from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. JMP Securities reissued a "market outperform" rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Lazard in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Lazard from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Lazard from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Lazard from $33.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lazard presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $48.33.

Lazard Trading Down 0.0%

NYSE:LAZ traded down $0.02 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $51.99. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,242,041 shares, compared to its average volume of 966,664. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.11 and a beta of 1.33. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $45.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $46.14. Lazard has a 1 year low of $31.97 and a 1 year high of $61.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.60, a quick ratio of 3.24 and a current ratio of 3.24.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The asset manager reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.27. Lazard had a net margin of 10.15% and a return on equity of 37.64%. The company had revenue of $669.16 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $698.39 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.66 earnings per share. Lazard's quarterly revenue was down 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect 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, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 5th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 5th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.85%. Lazard's payout ratio is 69.69%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lazard

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its holdings in shares of Lazard by 28.0% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,298 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $118,000 after buying an additional 503 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Lazard during the 4th quarter valued at $2,285,000. AlphaQuest LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Lazard by 85.8% during the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 1,137 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $59,000 after buying an additional 525 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its holdings in shares of Lazard by 17.2% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 22,454 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,156,000 after buying an additional 3,296 shares during the period. Finally, Wealthfront Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Lazard during the 4th quarter valued at $3,735,000. 54.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.