JMP Securities Reiterates “Market Outperform” Rating for Lazard (NYSE:LAZ)

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ)‘s stock had its “market outperform” rating reiterated by research analysts at JMP Securities in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $55.00 target price on the asset manager’s stock. JMP Securities’ target price would indicate a potential upside of 41.21% from the company’s previous close.

LAZ has been the topic of a number of other reports. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Lazard from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $56.00 to $33.00 in a research note on Monday, April 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Lazard from $51.00 to $44.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Lazard from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Lazard from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Lazard from $44.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.83.

Lazard Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LAZ opened at $38.95 on Monday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $42.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $49.56. Lazard has a twelve month low of $31.97 and a twelve month high of $61.14. The company has a market cap of $4.39 billion, a PE ratio of 14.64 and a beta of 1.27. 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 (NYSE:LAZ) last released 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 return on equity of 44.58% and a net margin of 8.98%. The business had revenue of $669.16 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $698.39 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.66 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Lazard will post 4.24 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Lazard news, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 64,539 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.24, for a total value of $2,919,744.36. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 234,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,623,437.76. This trade represents a 21.56 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.32, for a total transaction of $1,383,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 163,448 shares in the company, valued at $9,041,943.36. The trade was a 13.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 189,078 shares of company stock valued at $9,120,541 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 3.86% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Lazard in the fourth quarter worth approximately $59,962,000. Amundi increased its stake in Lazard by 31,967.0% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 936,676 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $46,886,000 after purchasing an additional 933,755 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in Lazard by 98.7% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,284,711 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $66,137,000 after acquiring an additional 638,169 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Lazard by 335.1% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 734,962 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $37,836,000 after buying an additional 566,051 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 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. 54.80% of the stock is 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.