Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) Declares $0.50 Quarterly Dividend

Key Points

• $0.50 quarterly dividend declared (annualized $2.00) with an ex‑dividend/record date of May 11 and payment on May 22, implying a ~4.1% yield.
• Lazard beat quarterly estimates with $0.80 EPS (vs. $0.68) and revenue up 11%, and its current payout ratio of 53.5% is expected to fall to ~40.5% next year based on analysts' forecasts, indicating the dividend is covered by earnings.
• Insiders sold about 80,999 shares (~$3.29M) over the last three months, including large CEO dispositions, while institutional investors added stakes (e.g., Price T. Rowe now owns 8.8M shares and Norges Bank opened an ~$80M position), with institutions owning ~54.8% of the stock.

Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 11th will be paid a dividend of 0.50 per share by the asset manager on Friday, May 22nd. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 11th.

Lazard has increased its dividend payment by an average of 0.0%annually over the last three years. Lazard has a dividend payout ratio of 53.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Lazard to earn $4.94 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 40.5%.

Lazard Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:LAZ opened at $48.52 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $45.25 and a 200-day simple moving average of $48.97. Lazard has a one year low of $38.52 and a one year high of $58.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 2.28 and a current ratio of 2.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.26, a PEG ratio of 0.42 and a beta of 1.42.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.12. Lazard had a net margin of 7.49% and a return on equity of 33.04%. The business had revenue of $892.11 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $876.32 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.78 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Lazard will post 3.36 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Christopher Hogbin sold 7,885 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.37, for a total transaction of $318,317.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,773 shares of the company's stock, valued at $636,756.01. This represents a 33.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 69,170 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.76, for a total transaction of $2,819,369.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 210,942 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,597,995.92. This represents a 24.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 80,999 shares of company stock valued at $3,292,962 over the last three months. 0.95% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Lazard during the fourth quarter worth about $80,169,000. M&T Bank Corp grew its position in Lazard by 2,763.4% during the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 1,405,899 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $68,270,000 after buying an additional 1,356,800 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Lazard by 13.5% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,807,320 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $427,685,000 after buying an additional 1,047,869 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in Lazard during the second quarter worth about $34,305,000. Finally, Algebris UK Ltd. acquired a new position in Lazard during the fourth quarter worth about $24,424,000. 54.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Lazard

Lazard Ltd. NYSE: LAZ is a leading global financial advisory and asset management firm, offering a comprehensive suite of services to corporations, governments and individuals. Founded in 1848, Lazard has built a reputation for providing independent advice and innovative solutions in complex financial transactions. The firm is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol LAZ and maintains its headquarters in Hamilton, Bermuda.

In its Financial Advisory segment, Lazard assists clients with mergers and acquisitions, restructurings, capital structure optimization and strategic planning.

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