Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) has received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the seven brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $53.50.

LAZ has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of Lazard from $57.00 to $52.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. StockNews.com downgraded Lazard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Wolfe Research cut Lazard from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. JMP Securities raised their target price on Lazard from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Lazard from $51.00 to $44.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th.

Lazard Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:LAZ opened at $53.38 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.27 and a beta of 1.40. The business has a 50-day moving average of $53.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $50.21. Lazard has a fifty-two week low of $35.56 and a fifty-two week high of $61.14. 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 (NYSE:LAZ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The asset manager reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.41 by ($0.03). Lazard had a return on equity of 42.20% and a net margin of 8.28%. The company had revenue of $646.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $644.22 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.10 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Lazard will post 2.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.75%. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 79.68%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of LAZ. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Lazard by 2.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,948,167 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $98,149,000 after purchasing an additional 55,469 shares in the last quarter. Interval Partners LP bought a new stake in Lazard in the second quarter valued at $1,626,000. Point72 Europe London LLP acquired a new position in Lazard during the second quarter worth $1,779,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Lazard by 2.2% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,772,237 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $89,285,000 after acquiring an additional 37,681 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Lazard by 348.9% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 17,604 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $887,000 after purchasing an additional 13,682 shares in the last quarter. 54.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Lazard

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.