Lazard, Inc. to Post Q2 2024 Earnings of $0.42 Per Share, Seaport Res Ptn Forecasts (NYSE:LAZ)

Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) – Equities researchers at Seaport Res Ptn decreased their Q2 2024 earnings estimates for Lazard in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, April 25th. Seaport Res Ptn analyst J. Mitchell now forecasts that the asset manager will earn $0.42 per share for the quarter, down from their previous forecast of $0.45. The consensus estimate for Lazard’s current full-year earnings is $3.20 per share. Seaport Res Ptn also issued estimates for Lazard’s Q3 2024 earnings at $0.62 EPS, FY2024 earnings at $3.00 EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at $0.75 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $0.78 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $0.88 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $1.68 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $4.10 EPS.

LAZ has been the subject of several other reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $49.00 price objective (down from $51.00) on shares of Lazard in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $58.00 target price on shares of Lazard in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. TheStreet raised shares of Lazard from a “d+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. StockNews.com raised shares of Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Lazard from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lazard has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.67.

Lazard Trading Down 2.2 %

LAZ opened at $38.52 on Monday. Lazard has a twelve month low of $25.82 and a twelve month high of $42.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.51. The company has a fifty day moving average of $39.37 and a 200-day moving average of $35.55. The stock has a market cap of $4.34 billion, a PE ratio of -110.05 and a beta of 1.46.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The asset manager reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.08. Lazard had a negative net margin of 0.63% and a positive return on equity of 37.47%. The company had revenue of $765.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $678.57 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.26) earnings per share. Lazard’s revenue for the quarter was up 41.1% compared to the same quarter last year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Lazard by 0.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,519,785 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $326,219,000 after purchasing an additional 42,455 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Lazard by 4.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,563,521 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $296,565,000 after purchasing an additional 436,034 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Lazard by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,844,038 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $98,973,000 after purchasing an additional 18,233 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Lazard by 943.5% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,963,865 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $82,227,000 after purchasing an additional 1,775,664 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Lazard during the fourth quarter valued at about $47,063,000. 54.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lazard

In other Lazard news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $8,950,078.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 3.14% of the company’s stock.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 6th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 3rd. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -571.41%.

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.