Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) have received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has given a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $45.67.

A number of research firms have weighed in on LAZ. StockNews.com raised Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Lazard from a “d+” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $49.00 price target (down from $51.00) on shares of Lazard in a research note on Friday. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Lazard from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Lazard from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 75,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.35, for a total transaction of $2,951,250.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 227,448 shares in the company, valued at $8,950,078.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 3.86% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lazard

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Empire Life Investments Inc. lifted its position in shares of Lazard by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Empire Life Investments Inc. now owns 19,252 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $670,000 after purchasing an additional 373 shares during the period. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina raised its stake in Lazard by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 48,534 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,689,000 after buying an additional 470 shares during the last quarter. Sweet Financial Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Lazard by 2.9% in the first quarter. Sweet Financial Partners LLC now owns 17,500 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $733,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new stake in Lazard during the first quarter valued at $25,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Lazard by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 16,335 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $507,000 after acquiring an additional 606 shares during the period. 54.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Lazard Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:LAZ opened at $38.99 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $4.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -111.40 and a beta of 1.46. Lazard has a 12 month low of $25.82 and a 12 month high of $42.24. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $39.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $35.42. The company has a quick ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.51.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The asset manager reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $765.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $678.57 million. Lazard had a positive return on equity of 37.47% and a negative net margin of 0.63%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 41.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.26) EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Lazard will post 3.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 17th. Investors of record on Monday, May 6th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.13%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 3rd. Lazard’s payout ratio is -571.43%.

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.