Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) Receives Average Recommendation of "Hold" from Brokerages

Key Points

• Lazard, Inc. has received a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from eight analysts, with two sell ratings, three holds, and three buy ratings.
• The average twelve-month price target for Lazard is currently $52.33, reflecting varying perspectives from different research firms on the stock's potential.
• The company recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.50 per share, representing an annualized yield of 3.6%, with a payout ratio of 68.97%.

Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the eight analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $52.3333.

Several research firms have recently issued reports on LAZ. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Lazard from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Lazard from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $60.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Monday, August 25th. Citigroup reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Lazard in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Lazard from $33.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, JMP Securities set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Lazard and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Teza Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Lazard by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. Teza Capital Management LLC now owns 8,059 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $387,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in Lazard by 12.5% during the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 2,259 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $98,000 after buying an additional 251 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp raised its holdings in Lazard by 1.2% during the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 25,191 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,209,000 after buying an additional 302 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Lazard by 57.2% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 918 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 334 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC raised its holdings in Lazard by 1.8% during the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 19,558 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $847,000 after buying an additional 343 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.80% of the company's stock.

Lazard Price Performance

LAZ stock opened at $54.81 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $53.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $46.72. The stock has a market cap of $6.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.90 and a beta of 1.35. Lazard has a 1 year low of $31.97 and a 1 year high of $61.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 2.53 and a quick ratio of 2.53.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.14. Lazard had a net margin of 9.96% and a return on equity of 34.33%. The business had revenue of $796.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $674.13 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.52 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 16.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Lazard will post 4.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. Lazard's dividend payout ratio is currently 68.97%.

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.

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