Analysts Issue Forecasts for Lazard’s Q1 Earnings (NYSE:LAZ)

Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) – Stock analysts at Seaport Res Ptn cut their Q1 2025 EPS estimates for shares of Lazard in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, April 9th. Seaport Res Ptn analyst J. Mitchell now anticipates that the asset manager will earn $0.36 per share for the quarter, down from their prior estimate of $0.66. The consensus estimate for Lazard’s current full-year earnings is $4.24 per share. Seaport Res Ptn also issued estimates for Lazard’s Q2 2025 earnings at $0.42 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $0.60 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $1.11 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $2.50 EPS, Q1 2026 earnings at $0.77 EPS, Q2 2026 earnings at $0.78 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $4.00 EPS.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.09. Lazard had a net margin of 8.98% and a return on equity of 44.58%.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on LAZ. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Lazard from $51.00 to $44.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Lazard from $44.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Lazard from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Lazard from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $56.00 to $33.00 in a report on Monday. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered Lazard from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Two equities 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.83.

Lazard Stock Down 9.0 %

Shares of Lazard stock opened at $35.00 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $46.74 and its 200 day moving average is $50.73. Lazard has a one year low of $31.97 and a one year high of $61.14. The firm has a market cap of $3.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.16 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72, a current ratio of 2.24 and a quick ratio of 2.24.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.72%. Lazard’s payout ratio is 75.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lazard

In other news, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 64,539 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.56, for a total value of $2,940,396.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 170,285 shares in the company, valued at $7,758,184.60. This represents a 27.48 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.32, for a total transaction of $1,383,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 163,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,041,943.36. This represents a 13.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 189,078 shares of company stock worth $9,120,541. Insiders own 3.86% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Lazard

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Lazard by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,788,512 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $555,393,000 after purchasing an additional 81,559 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in shares of Lazard by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 4,429,776 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $228,045,000 after purchasing an additional 240,938 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Lazard by 26.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,297,249 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $118,294,000 after purchasing an additional 483,696 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Lazard by 10.1% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,250,049 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $113,357,000 after purchasing an additional 206,295 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew 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 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.