Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) have earned an average rating of “Hold” from the seven analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have assigned a hold recommendation and one has given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $55.33.

LAZ has been the topic of several research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Lazard from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Lazard from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Lazard from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Lazard from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st.

Lazard Price Performance

Shares of LAZ opened at $55.23 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $6.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.76 and a beta of 1.41. Lazard has a 1-year low of $35.56 and a 1-year high of $61.14. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $52.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $51.44. The company has a current ratio of 2.24, a quick ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.09. Lazard had a net margin of 8.98% and a return on equity of 44.58%. On average, research analysts forecast that Lazard will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.62%. Lazard’s payout ratio is presently 75.19%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 35,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.64, for a total transaction of $1,877,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 188,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,108,350.72. This represents a 15.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 3.86% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lazard

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp lifted its position in Lazard by 2.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,948,167 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $98,149,000 after purchasing an additional 55,469 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Lazard by 2.2% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,772,237 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $89,285,000 after purchasing an additional 37,681 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Lazard by 348.9% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 17,604 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $887,000 after purchasing an additional 13,682 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Lazard by 5,770.1% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,064,431 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $53,626,000 after acquiring an additional 1,046,298 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Glenmede Trust Co. NA bought a new position in shares of Lazard in the third quarter worth about $487,000. Institutional investors own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

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.