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

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

LAZ has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their target price on Lazard from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Wolfe Research cut Lazard from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Lazard from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on Lazard from $51.00 to $44.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Lazard from $63.00 to $56.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 13th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lazard

In related news, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 64,539 shares of Lazard stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.56, for a total transaction of $2,940,396.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 170,285 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,758,184.60. The trade was a 27.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 35,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.64, for a total value of $1,877,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 188,448 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,108,350.72. This represents a 15.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 189,078 shares of company stock valued at $9,120,541. Insiders own 3.86% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lazard

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of LAZ. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. bought a new stake in Lazard during the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Lazard in the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lazard in the fourth quarter worth about $46,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Lazard by 54.3% in the fourth quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 977 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 344 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lazard in the fourth quarter worth about $53,000. 54.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Lazard Stock Performance

Shares of LAZ stock opened at $45.75 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.24 and a current ratio of 2.24. Lazard has a fifty-two week low of $35.56 and a fifty-two week high of $61.14. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $50.65 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $51.76. The company has a market capitalization of $5.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.20 and a beta of 1.41.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.09. Lazard had a return on equity of 44.58% and a net margin of 8.98%. Analysts expect that Lazard will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.37%. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 75.19%.

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.