Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) Stock Has Consensus Target Price of $46.75 According to Analysts

Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ – Get Free Report) has received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the ten analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have assigned a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $46.25.

Several brokerages have recently commented on LAZ. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Lazard from $44.00 to $41.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Lazard from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Lazard from $44.00 to $40.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 7th. Citigroup reissued a “market outperform” rating on shares of Lazard in a report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of Lazard from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 24th.

Read Our Latest Analysis on Lazard

Lazard Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:LAZ opened at $36.59 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $40.50 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $43.21. Lazard has a fifty-two week low of $34.76 and a fifty-two week high of $58.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 2.84 and a quick ratio of 2.84.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.34 by ($0.22). The company had revenue of $786.47 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $736.29 million. Lazard had a return on equity of 23.58% and a net margin of 6.95%. The business’s revenue was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.52 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Lazard will post 2.10 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 3rd. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.5%. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 98.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lazard

In other news, CEO Peter Orszag sold 125,000 shares of Lazard stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.52, for a total value of $5,440,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 260,942 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,356,195.84. The trade was a 32.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders own 0.95% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in Lazard during the 2nd quarter valued at $36,000. Compass Financial Management LLC bought a new position in Lazard in the 2nd quarter valued at $41,000. Allworth Financial LP acquired a new position in Lazard in the second quarter worth $42,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Lazard by 37.2% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,872 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $68,000 after purchasing an additional 508 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nykredit A S acquired a new position in Lazard in the second quarter worth $87,000. 54.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Lazard Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

Lazard Ltd. (NYSE: LAZ) is a global financial advisory and asset management firm. The company provides advice to corporations, financial institutions, governments and other public-sector entities on strategic matters, including mergers and acquisitions, capital structure, restructuring, shareholder relations and other corporate finance transactions.

Through its asset management business, Lazard manages investment strategies for institutions, financial intermediaries and private clients across equities, fixed income, alternatives and other asset classes.

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Analyst Recommendations for Lazard (NYSE:LAZ)

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