Brokerages Set Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) Target Price at $55.33

Shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) have received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the seven research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $55.33.

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wolfe Research cut shares of Lazard from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. JMP Securities increased their target price on shares of Lazard from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Lazard from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Lazard from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st.

Lazard Trading Down 4.9 %

Lazard stock opened at $49.46 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72, a current ratio of 2.24 and a quick ratio of 2.24. Lazard has a one year low of $35.56 and a one year high of $61.14. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $51.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $51.71. The company has a market capitalization of $5.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.59 and a beta of 1.41.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.09. Lazard had a net margin of 8.98% and a return on equity of 44.58%. On average, analysts forecast that Lazard will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 75.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.32, for a total value of $1,383,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 163,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,041,943.36. This represents a 13.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 3.86% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Lazard by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,788,512 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $555,393,000 after buying an additional 81,559 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in shares of Lazard by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 4,429,776 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $228,045,000 after buying an additional 240,938 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Lazard by 26.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,297,249 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $118,294,000 after buying an additional 483,696 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Lazard by 10.1% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,250,049 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $113,357,000 after buying an additional 206,295 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Lazard by 2.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,948,167 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $98,149,000 after buying an additional 55,469 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

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.