Shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ – Get Free Report) have received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the ten ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have given a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $46.75.
A number of brokerages recently issued reports on LAZ. Capital One Financial set a $38.00 price target on shares of Lazard in a research note on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Lazard from $42.00 to $36.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of Lazard from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Lazard from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Lazard from $44.00 to $41.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday.
Read Our Latest Research Report on Lazard
Insider Activity at Lazard
In other news, CEO Peter Orszag sold 125,000 shares of Lazard stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.52, for a total value of $5,440,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 260,942 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,356,195.84. This trade represents a 32.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders own 0.95% of the company’s stock.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lazard
Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Lazard by 37.2% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,872 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $68,000 after purchasing an additional 508 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Lazard by 251.6% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,500 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $91,000 after purchasing an additional 1,789 shares during the period. Engineers Gate Manager LP raised its holdings in shares of Lazard by 74.7% during the second quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 95,509 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,006,000 after purchasing an additional 40,846 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of Lazard in the 2nd quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC lifted its position in shares of Lazard by 59.2% in the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 554,285 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $23,247,000 after buying an additional 206,051 shares during the last quarter. 54.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Lazard Trading Up 0.0%
NYSE:LAZ opened at $35.84 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 2.84 and a current ratio of 2.84. Lazard has a one year low of $34.76 and a one year high of $58.75. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $40.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.28. The stock has a market cap of $3.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.47.
Lazard (NYSE:LAZ – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.12 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by ($0.22). The business had revenue of $786.47 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $736.29 million. Lazard had a net margin of 6.95% and a return on equity of 23.58%. Lazard’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.52 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Lazard will post 2.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Lazard Dividend Announcement
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 3rd. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 98.04%.
Lazard Company Profile
Lazard Ltd. NYSE: LAZ is a global financial advisory and asset management firm. The company provides advice to corporations, financial institutions, governments and other public-sector entities on strategic matters, including mergers and acquisitions, capital structure, restructuring, shareholder relations and other corporate finance transactions.
Through its asset management business, Lazard manages investment strategies for institutions, financial intermediaries and private clients across equities, fixed income, alternatives and other asset classes.
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