Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) has been given an average rating of “Hold” by the seven research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $52.29.

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered Lazard from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $65.00 to $57.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Lazard from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of Lazard in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $51.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com lowered shares of Lazard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, JMP Securities boosted their target price on shares of Lazard from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lazard

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Richardson Financial Services Inc. grew its position in Lazard by 1,125.0% during the 2nd quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 735 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 675 shares in the last quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lazard during the third quarter valued at $50,000. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new position in Lazard during the second quarter valued at $87,000. LWM Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in Lazard in the 2nd quarter worth about $88,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Lazard during the 2nd quarter worth about $150,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Lazard Stock Performance

Shares of LAZ opened at $51.48 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.81 billion, a PE ratio of 20.51 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a quick ratio of 2.24, a current ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $54.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $49.05. Lazard has a 52-week low of $34.83 and a 52-week high of $61.14.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The asset manager reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by ($0.03). Lazard had a return on equity of 42.20% and a net margin of 8.28%. The company had revenue of $646.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $644.22 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.10 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 21.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Lazard will post 2.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.89%. Lazard’s payout ratio is presently 79.68%.

About Lazard

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.