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

Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, July 23rd, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th will be paid a dividend of 0.50 per share by the asset manager on Friday, August 15th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 4th.

Lazard has a payout ratio of 53.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Lazard to earn $5.06 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 39.5%.

Lazard Price Performance

Shares of Lazard stock traded up $0.25 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $54.86. The company's stock had a trading volume of 989,912 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,054,277. The company has a market cap of $6.19 billion, a PE ratio of 18.92 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.60, a quick ratio of 3.24 and a current ratio of 3.24. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $47.36 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $46.32. Lazard has a 12-month low of $31.97 and a 12-month high of $61.14.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.14. Lazard had a return on equity of 35.81% and a net margin of 9.96%. The company had revenue of $796.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $674.13 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.52 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 16.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Lazard will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Lazard

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LAZ. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its stake in Lazard by 8.4% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 238,288 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $10,318,000 after acquiring an additional 18,444 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Lazard by 27.5% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 759,867 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $32,902,000 after purchasing an additional 163,983 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Lazard by 131.8% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 12,563 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $544,000 after purchasing an additional 7,144 shares during the period. 54.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on LAZ. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Lazard from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Lazard from $38.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Lazard from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Citigroup reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Lazard in a report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Lazard from $33.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $51.50.

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.