Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) Earns Equal Weight Rating from Analysts at Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) in a report issued on Thursday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage issued an equal weight rating and a $51.00 price objective on the asset manager’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Lazard from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a sell rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Lazard from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an outperform rating and issued a $56.00 target price (up from $49.00) on shares of Lazard in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lazard from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $48.71.

Lazard Price Performance

NYSE:LAZ opened at $47.77 on Thursday. Lazard has a 52 week low of $25.82 and a 52 week high of $50.26. The firm has a market cap of $5.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -136.48 and a beta of 1.39. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $46.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.60, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a current ratio of 1.94.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The asset manager reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.17. Lazard had a net margin of 5.50% and a return on equity of 41.78%. The business had revenue of $685.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $625.40 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.24 earnings per share. Lazard’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Lazard will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 16th. Investors of record on Monday, August 5th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 5th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.19%. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio is presently -571.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 87,770 shares of Lazard stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.08, for a total transaction of $4,219,981.60. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 1,553,225 shares in the company, valued at approximately $74,679,058. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 87,770 shares of Lazard stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.08, for a total transaction of $4,219,981.60. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 1,553,225 shares in the company, valued at approximately $74,679,058. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 46,107 shares of Lazard stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.19, for a total transaction of $1,853,040.33. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 1,936,722 shares in the company, valued at $77,836,857.18. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 429,604 shares of company stock worth $19,873,736 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 3.86% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of LAZ. Truist Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Lazard by 14.6% in the 4th quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 8,114 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $282,000 after purchasing an additional 1,031 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its position in shares of Lazard by 368.9% in the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 97,412 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,390,000 after purchasing an additional 76,637 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Lazard in the 4th quarter worth approximately $47,063,000. Trexquant Investment LP acquired a new position in shares of Lazard in the 4th quarter worth approximately $354,000. Finally, Commerce Bank acquired a new position in shares of Lazard in the 4th quarter worth approximately $493,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.