Seaport Res Ptn Research Analysts Lower Earnings Estimates for Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) – Analysts at Seaport Res Ptn dropped their Q3 2024 earnings estimates for Lazard in a report issued on Wednesday, October 9th. Seaport Res Ptn analyst J. Mitchell now expects that the asset manager will post earnings of $0.36 per share for the quarter, down from their previous forecast of $0.40. The consensus estimate for Lazard’s current full-year earnings is $2.43 per share. Seaport Res Ptn also issued estimates for Lazard’s Q4 2024 earnings at $0.87 EPS and FY2024 earnings at $2.40 EPS.

LAZ has been the subject of several other research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective 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. JMP Securities lifted their price target on shares of Lazard from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. StockNews.com raised shares of Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Lazard from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Lazard from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lazard presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $51.14.

Lazard Trading Up 5.4 %

Shares of LAZ stock opened at $52.69 on Friday. Lazard has a fifty-two week low of $25.82 and a fifty-two week high of $52.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.60, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a current ratio of 1.94. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $48.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.99. The company has a market cap of $5.94 billion, a P/E ratio of -150.54 and a beta of 1.39.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The asset manager reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.17. Lazard had a return on equity of 41.78% and a net margin of 5.50%. The firm had revenue of $685.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $625.40 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.24 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis.

Institutional Trading of Lazard

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of LAZ. Continuum Advisory LLC boosted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 330 shares during the last quarter. Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Lazard by 3.3% in 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 purchasing an additional 589 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC purchased a new position in Lazard in the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. grew its holdings in Lazard by 1,125.0% during the second quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 735 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 675 shares during the period. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC increased its position in Lazard by 22.2% in the second quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 4,400 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $168,000 after buying an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. 54.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 1,999 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.01, for a total value of $99,969.99. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 1,727,723 shares in the company, valued at $86,403,427.23. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 1,999 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.01, for a total value of $99,969.99. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 1,727,723 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $86,403,427.23. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 86,728 shares of Lazard 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 directly owns 1,640,995 shares in the company, valued at $82,082,569.90. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 383,497 shares of company stock valued at $18,020,696. Corporate insiders own 3.86% of the company’s stock.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 5th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 5th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.80%. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -571.43%.

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.