Lazard (LAZ) Set to Announce Earnings on Thursday

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) is scheduled to announce its earnings results before the market opens on Thursday, April 25th. Analysts expect the company to announce earnings of $0.58 per share for the quarter. Investors that are interested in registering for the company’s conference call can do so using this link.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The asset manager reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.31. Lazard had a negative net margin of 2.93% and a positive return on equity of 16.43%. The firm had revenue of $825.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $666.56 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.69 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect Lazard to post $3 EPS for the current fiscal year and $4 EPS for the next fiscal year.

Lazard Trading Up 3.0 %

LAZ opened at $39.65 on Wednesday. Lazard has a fifty-two week low of $25.82 and a fifty-two week high of $42.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.51, a current ratio of 1.62 and a quick ratio of 1.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -40.87 and a beta of 1.46. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $39.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $35.23.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 12th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.04%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 9th. Lazard’s payout ratio is -206.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.35, for a total value of $2,951,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 227,448 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,950,078.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 3.86% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on LAZ shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. TheStreet raised shares of Lazard from a “d+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $58.00 price objective on shares of Lazard in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $51.00 price objective on shares of Lazard in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Lazard from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.00.

Lazard Company Profile

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.