Head to Head Survey: Perella Weinberg Partners (NASDAQ:PWP) & Lazard (NYSE:LAZ)

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) and Perella Weinberg Partners (NASDAQ:PWP) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations, risk, institutional ownership, profitability and earnings.

Dividends

Lazard pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.1%. Perella Weinberg Partners pays an annual dividend of $0.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. Lazard pays out 121.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Perella Weinberg Partners pays out 71.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

54.8% of Lazard shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 41.1% of Perella Weinberg Partners shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.9% of Lazard shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 26.1% of Perella Weinberg Partners shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Lazard and Perella Weinberg Partners, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lazard	3	3	4	0	2.10
Perella Weinberg Partners	1	1	2	0	2.25

Lazard presently has a consensus target price of $46.50, suggesting a potential upside of 17.68%. Perella Weinberg Partners has a consensus target price of $21.75, suggesting a potential upside of 45.14%. Given Perella Weinberg Partners’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Perella Weinberg Partners is more favorable than Lazard.

Risk & Volatility

Lazard has a beta of 1.47, indicating that its stock price is 47% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Perella Weinberg Partners has a beta of 1.67, indicating that its stock price is 67% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Lazard and Perella Weinberg Partners’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lazard	5.55%	20.76%	4.16%
Perella Weinberg Partners	4.35%	-79.92%	12.85%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Lazard and Perella Weinberg Partners”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Lazard	$3.10 billion	1.40	$236.83 million	$1.65	23.95
Perella Weinberg Partners	$750.90 million	1.88	$35.48 million	$0.39	38.43

Lazard has higher revenue and earnings than Perella Weinberg Partners. Lazard is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Perella Weinberg Partners, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

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. This segment offers its services to corporate, partnership, institutional, government, sovereign, and individual clients to various industry areas, including consumers, financial institutions, healthcare and life sciences, industrials, power and energy/infrastructure, real estate, technology, telecommunication, and media and entertainment. The Asset Management segment offers a range of investment solutions; investment and wealth management services in equity and fixed income strategies; asset allocation strategies; and alternative investments and private equity funds to corporations, public funds, sovereign entities, endowments and foundations, labor funds, financial intermediaries, and private clients. Lazard, Inc. was incorporated in 1848 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

About Perella Weinberg Partners

Perella Weinberg Partners, an independent investment banking company, provides strategic and financial advice services in the United States and internationally. The company offers advisory services related to strategic and financial decisions, mergers and acquisition execution, shareholder and defense advisory, and financing and capital solutions advice with resources focused on restructuring, liability management, and capital markets advisory, as well as underwriting and research services primarily for the energy and related industries. It serves public multinational corporations, mid-sized public and private companies, financial sponsors, individual entrepreneurs, private and institutional investors, creditor committees, and government institutions in consumer and retail; energy and energy transition; financial services and FinTech; healthcare; industrials and infrastructure; and technology, telecommunication, and media industries. Perella Weinberg Partners is headquartered in New York, New York.