Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the eleven analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have given a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $55.00.

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on LAZ. Zacks Research cut shares of Lazard from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Citigroup restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Lazard in a research note on Monday, July 14th. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on shares of Lazard in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $56.00 target price for the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Lazard in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, JMP Securities set a $60.00 target price on shares of Lazard and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lazard news, CAO Michael Gathy sold 617 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.37, for a total value of $34,163.29. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.95, for a total transaction of $2,847,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 227,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,979,759.25. This trade represents a 17.99% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 108,092 shares of company stock valued at $6,030,986. Insiders own 2.26% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Calton & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Lazard during the first quarter worth $28,000. State of Wyoming purchased a new position in shares of Lazard during the second quarter worth $38,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Lazard by 57.2% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 918 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 334 shares during the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Lazard during the second quarter worth $49,000. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Lazard during the first quarter worth $50,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Lazard Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LAZ opened at $48.94 on Friday. Lazard has a fifty-two week low of $31.97 and a fifty-two week high of $61.14. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $53.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $48.72. The company has a market capitalization of $5.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.34 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 2.53 and a current ratio of 2.53.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The asset manager reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.17. Lazard had a net margin of 8.89% and a return on equity of 37.15%. The business had revenue of $782.43 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $739.91 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.38 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Lazard will post 4.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 3rd will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 3rd. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.1%. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 79.05%.

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.