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

Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the seven ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have issued a hold recommendation and one has given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $55.33.

A number of research firms recently issued reports on LAZ. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Lazard from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Lazard from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com upgraded Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of Lazard from $51.00 to $44.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Lazard from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lazard

In other news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.32, for a total value of $1,383,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 163,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,041,943.36. This represents a 13.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 3.14% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Lazard

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. US Bancorp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Lazard by 2,053.6% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 5,104 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $257,000 after buying an additional 4,867 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. increased its position in Lazard by 12.2% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 5,413 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $273,000 after acquiring an additional 589 shares during the period. Aigen Investment Management LP raised its stake in Lazard by 50.4% in the 3rd quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP now owns 12,460 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $628,000 after purchasing an additional 4,178 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Lazard by 5,770.1% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,064,431 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $53,626,000 after purchasing an additional 1,046,298 shares during the period. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. grew its position in shares of Lazard by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 25,944 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,307,000 after purchasing an additional 849 shares in the last quarter. 54.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Lazard Price Performance

Shares of LAZ opened at $45.83 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.24, a current ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72. Lazard has a twelve month low of $35.56 and a twelve month high of $61.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.23 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a 50 day moving average of $50.95 and a 200-day moving average of $51.83.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Lazard will post 4.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.36%. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 75.19%.

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.