Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) Receives $55.33 Average Price Target from Analysts

Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) has been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the seven research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have assigned a hold recommendation and one has issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $54.17.

Several research firms recently issued reports on LAZ. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Lazard from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Lazard from $63.00 to $56.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Lazard from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of Lazard from $51.00 to $44.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lazard

In other news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 35,000 shares of Lazard stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.64, for a total transaction of $1,877,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 188,448 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,108,350.72. The trade was a 15.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 3.14% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lazard

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Lazard during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in Lazard during the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Lazard during the fourth quarter worth $46,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its stake in Lazard by 54.3% during the fourth quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 977 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 344 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new stake in Lazard in the fourth quarter valued at $53,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Lazard Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LAZ opened at $44.98 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.07 billion, a PE ratio of 16.91 and a beta of 1.41. Lazard has a fifty-two week low of $35.56 and a fifty-two 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. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $50.74 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $51.76.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.09. Lazard had a return on equity of 44.58% and a net margin of 8.98%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Lazard will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a $0.50 dividend. 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 4.45%. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.