Lazard (LAZ) to Release Quarterly Earnings on Thursday

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) is anticipated to release its earnings data before the market opens on Thursday, January 30th. Analysts expect Lazard to post earnings of $0.69 per share and revenue of $793,530.00 billion for the quarter. Investors that are interested in registering for the company’s conference call can do so using this link.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The asset manager reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $646.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $644.22 million. Lazard had a net margin of 8.28% and a return on equity of 42.20%. The firm’s revenue was up 21.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.10 EPS. On average, analysts expect Lazard to post $2 EPS for the current fiscal year and $4 EPS for the next fiscal year.

Lazard Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of Lazard stock opened at $54.07 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72, a current ratio of 2.24 and a quick ratio of 2.24. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $53.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $50.30. The stock has a market cap of $6.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.54 and a beta of 1.40. Lazard has a 1-year low of $35.56 and a 1-year high of $61.14.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.70%. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 79.68%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on LAZ shares. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Lazard from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Lazard from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $60.00 to $63.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Wolfe Research cut Lazard from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. StockNews.com lowered Lazard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, JMP Securities upped their target price on shares of Lazard from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.50.

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.