Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) have received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the eleven research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have assigned a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $55.2857.

Several analysts have recently issued reports on LAZ shares. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $46.00 price objective on Lazard and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Lazard in a research report on Monday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Lazard from $58.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Zacks Research lowered shares of Lazard from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets began coverage on shares of Lazard in a report on Friday, October 3rd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $56.00 target price on the stock.

Lazard Trading Down 1.7%

Shares of LAZ stock opened at $49.66 on Friday. Lazard has a fifty-two week low of $31.97 and a fifty-two week high of $58.07. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $49.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $51.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.63 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 2.58 and a current ratio of 2.58.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The asset manager reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.17. Lazard had a net margin of 8.89% and a return on equity of 35.02%. The company had revenue of $770.76 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $739.91 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.38 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Lazard will post 4.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 3rd were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 3rd. Lazard’s payout ratio is 79.05%.

Institutional Trading of Lazard

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of LAZ. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Lazard by 2,324.4% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,099,179 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $264,096,000 after acquiring an additional 5,847,608 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Lazard during the second quarter worth approximately $66,547,000. Amundi boosted its holdings in Lazard by 141.6% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 2,263,046 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $97,990,000 after purchasing an additional 1,326,370 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in Lazard in the second quarter valued at approximately $34,305,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in Lazard by 31.6% in the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,690,943 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $73,214,000 after purchasing an additional 406,232 shares during the last quarter. 54.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Lazard

Lazard Ltd. (NYSE: LAZ) is a leading global financial advisory and asset management firm, offering a comprehensive suite of services to corporations, governments and individuals. Founded in 1848, Lazard has built a reputation for providing independent advice and innovative solutions in complex financial transactions. The firm is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol LAZ and maintains its headquarters in Hamilton, Bermuda.

In its Financial Advisory segment, Lazard assists clients with mergers and acquisitions, restructurings, capital structure optimization and strategic planning.