Lazard, Inc. (LAZ) To Go Ex-Dividend on November 2nd

Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, October 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share by the asset manager on Friday, November 13th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.2%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 2nd.

Lazard has a dividend payout ratio of 53.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Lazard to earn $3.52 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 56.8%.

Lazard Trading Down 3.0%

NYSE LAZ opened at $38.35 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $38.73 and a two-hundred day moving average of $44.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.21 billion, a PE ratio of 23.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.47. Lazard has a 52 week low of $34.13 and a 52 week high of $58.75. The company has a quick ratio of 2.84, a current ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.42 by ($0.06). Lazard had a net margin of 5.55% and a return on equity of 20.76%. The company had revenue of $804.62 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $844.23 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.56 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Lazard will post 1.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on LAZ. Zacks Research cut Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Citigroup reiterated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Lazard in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Capital One Financial set a $38.00 price objective on shares of Lazard in a research note on Tuesday, October 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on Lazard from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, October 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lazard currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.50.

About Lazard

Lazard, Ltd. is a global financial advisory and asset management firm that serves corporations, financial institutions, governments, sovereign entities and individuals. Its Financial Advisory business provides advice on mergers and acquisitions, strategic matters, capital structure, restructuring, capital raising and other complex financial transactions.

Through its Asset Management business, Lazard offers investment strategies across equities, fixed income, private markets, alternatives and multi-asset portfolios.