Wells Fargo & Company Initiates Coverage on Lazard (NYSE:LAZ)

Equities researchers at Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) in a report released on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm set an “equal weight” rating and a $51.00 price target on the asset manager’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 6.74% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on LAZ. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Lazard from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $56.00 price objective (up from $49.00) on shares of Lazard in a report on Friday, July 26th. StockNews.com raised shares of Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Lazard from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $48.71.

Lazard Stock Up 3.6 %

LAZ opened at $47.78 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $46.13 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -136.51 and a beta of 1.39. Lazard has a fifty-two week low of $25.82 and a fifty-two week high of $50.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.60, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a current ratio of 1.94.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The asset manager reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $685.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $625.40 million. Lazard had a return on equity of 41.78% and a net margin of 5.50%. Lazard’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.24 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Lazard will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lazard news, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 86,728 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.02, for a total transaction of $4,338,134.56. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 1,640,995 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $82,082,569.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 86,728 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.02, for a total transaction of $4,338,134.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 1,640,995 shares in the company, valued at $82,082,569.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 207,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.23, for a total transaction of $9,362,610.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 1,729,722 shares in the company, valued at $78,235,326.06. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 429,604 shares of company stock valued at $19,873,736 in the last ninety days. 3.86% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Lazard

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Continuum Advisory LLC raised its position in Lazard by 58.9% in the second quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 890 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 330 shares during the period. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina raised its holdings in shares of Lazard by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 48,534 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,689,000 after buying an additional 470 shares during the period. Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd lifted its stake in Lazard by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd now owns 18,392 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $702,000 after acquiring an additional 589 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC purchased a new position in Lazard during the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. grew its position in Lazard by 1,125.0% in the 2nd quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 735 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 675 shares in the last quarter. 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.