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

Shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the ten analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $46.75.

Several brokerages have recently commented on LAZ. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Lazard from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Capital One Financial set a $38.00 price target on shares of Lazard in a report on Tuesday, October 6th. Citigroup restated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Lazard in a report on Friday, July 24th. Zacks Research raised shares of Lazard from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 28th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of Lazard from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 24th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lazard

In other news, CEO Peter Orszag sold 125,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.52, for a total value of $5,440,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 260,942 shares in the company, valued at $11,356,195.84. The trade was a 32.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.95% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lazard

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of Lazard during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Compass Financial Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lazard during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $41,000. Allworth Financial LP purchased a new stake in shares of Lazard during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $42,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Lazard by 37.2% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,872 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $68,000 after purchasing an additional 508 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nykredit A S bought a new stake in shares of Lazard in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $87,000. 54.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Lazard Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:LAZ opened at $36.73 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.84, a quick ratio of 2.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $43.26. Lazard has a 1-year low of $34.76 and a 1-year high of $58.75. The stock has a market cap of $4.06 billion, a PE ratio of 18.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.47.

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

Lazard Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 3rd were given 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 5.4%. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 98.04%.

About Lazard

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.