Lazard (LAZ) Scheduled to Post Quarterly Earnings on Thursday

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) is set to announce its earnings results before the market opens on Thursday, October 31st. Analysts expect the company to announce earnings of $0.41 per share for the quarter. Individual that are interested in registering for the company’s earnings conference call can do so using this link.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The asset manager reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.17. Lazard had a net margin of 5.50% and a return on equity of 41.78%. The company had revenue of $685.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $625.40 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.24 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect Lazard to post $2 EPS for the current fiscal year and $4 EPS for the next fiscal year.

Lazard Price Performance

LAZ opened at $51.11 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.60, a current ratio of 1.94 and a quick ratio of 1.94. Lazard has a 1 year low of $25.82 and a 1 year high of $54.72. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $49.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.76. The firm has a market cap of $5.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -146.03 and a beta of 1.39.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lazard

In other Lazard news, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 87,770 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.08, for a total transaction of $4,219,981.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 1,553,225 shares in the company, valued at approximately $74,679,058. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 87,770 shares of Lazard stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.08, for a total value of $4,219,981.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 1,553,225 shares in the company, valued at $74,679,058. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 86,728 shares of Lazard stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 1,640,995 shares of the company’s stock, 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 176,497 shares of company stock worth $8,658,086. 3.86% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on LAZ. StockNews.com upgraded Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Lazard from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $56.00 target price (up from $49.00) on shares of Lazard in a research report on Friday, July 26th. JMP Securities raised their price objective on shares of Lazard from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on Lazard in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $51.00 target price on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lazard has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $51.14.

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.