Zacks Research Comments on Lazard’s Q1 Earnings (NYSE:LAZ)

Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) – Investment analysts at Zacks Research lowered their Q1 2025 EPS estimates for Lazard in a research note issued on Tuesday, December 3rd. Zacks Research analyst R. Department now forecasts that the asset manager will earn $0.81 per share for the quarter, down from their previous forecast of $0.83. The consensus estimate for Lazard’s current full-year earnings is $2.25 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Lazard’s Q4 2025 earnings at $1.48 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $4.18 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $1.44 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $5.61 EPS.

Several other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Lazard from $59.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. JMP Securities upped their price objective on shares of Lazard from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of Lazard in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $51.00 target price for the company. UBS Group increased their price target on Lazard from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Lazard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.00.

Lazard Stock Performance

Lazard stock opened at $56.72 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.60 and a beta of 1.38. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $53.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $47.43. Lazard has a 52-week low of $30.99 and a 52-week high of $61.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72, a current ratio of 2.24 and a quick ratio of 2.24.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The asset manager reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $646.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $644.22 million. Lazard had a return on equity of 42.20% and a net margin of 8.28%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 21.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.10 earnings per share.

Institutional Trading of Lazard

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LAZ. Claro Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Lazard by 10,306.7% in the 3rd quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 1,235,793 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $62,259,000 after purchasing an additional 1,223,918 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Lazard by 5,770.1% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,064,431 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $53,626,000 after acquiring an additional 1,046,298 shares during the last quarter. Azora Capital LP bought a new position in Lazard in the third quarter valued at approximately $13,560,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Lazard by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,250,049 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $113,357,000 after acquiring an additional 206,295 shares during the period. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc bought a new stake in shares of Lazard during the 2nd quarter valued at $7,102,000. 54.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.53%. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 79.68%.

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.