Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) Receives $55.00 Average Price Target from Analysts

Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) has earned an average rating of “Hold” from the eleven ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $55.1429.

A number of research analysts have recently commented on LAZ shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Lazard from $38.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Lazard in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Zacks Research cut shares of Lazard from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 22nd. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Lazard from $47.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. Finally, Citigroup restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Lazard in a report on Monday, July 14th.

Lazard Trading Down 1.1%

LAZ stock opened at $51.71 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.53, a current ratio of 2.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15. Lazard has a twelve month low of $31.97 and a twelve month high of $61.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.83 and a beta of 1.37. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $54.46 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $47.69.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.14. Lazard had a net margin of 9.96% and a return on equity of 34.33%. The business had revenue of $796.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $674.13 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.52 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 16.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Lazard will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.9%. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio is 68.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Michael Gathy sold 617 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.37, for a total value of $34,163.29. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 32,475 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.09, for a total transaction of $1,756,572.75. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 183,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,913,290.66. This trade represents a 15.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 108,092 shares of company stock valued at $6,030,986 over the last three months. 3.86% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Lazard

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lazard during the first quarter valued at about $251,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Lazard by 9.7% during the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 287,574 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $12,452,000 after buying an additional 25,480 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Lazard by 10.0% in the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 5,089 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $220,000 after purchasing an additional 461 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lazard in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $598,000. Finally, Citigroup Inc. raised its position in shares of Lazard by 5.1% in the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 358,970 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $15,543,000 after purchasing an additional 17,418 shares during the last quarter. 54.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.