Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) Stock Price Down 4% – Time to Sell?

Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)’s share price fell 4% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $48.52 and last traded at $48.72. 482,135 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 11% from the average session volume of 538,812 shares. The stock had previously closed at $50.74.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on LAZ shares. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Lazard from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $60.00 to $63.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. JMP Securities increased their price target on shares of Lazard from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Lazard from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered Lazard from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $65.00 to $57.00 in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Lazard from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $52.29.

Lazard Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $5.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.65 and a beta of 1.38. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $54.44 and its 200 day moving average is $49.06. The company has a current ratio of 2.24, a quick ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The asset manager reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $646.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $644.22 million. Lazard had a return on equity of 42.20% and a net margin of 8.28%. Lazard’s revenue was up 21.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.10 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Lazard, Inc. will post 2.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.06%. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 79.68%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lazard

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LAZ. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Lazard by 10.1% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,250,049 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $113,357,000 after buying an additional 206,295 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Lazard by 2.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,948,167 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $98,149,000 after purchasing an additional 55,469 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Lazard by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,813,553 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $91,392,000 after buying an additional 15,151 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Lazard by 2.2% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,772,237 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $89,285,000 after purchasing an additional 37,681 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Claro Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Lazard by 10,306.7% during the third quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 1,235,793 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $62,259,000 after buying an additional 1,223,918 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.