Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.08 EPS

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ - Get Free Report) issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The asset manager reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.08, Briefing.com reports. The business had revenue of $765.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $678.57 million. Lazard had a negative net margin of 2.93% and a positive return on equity of 16.43%. The company's revenue was up 41.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.26) EPS.

Lazard Stock Performance

Shares of Lazard stock traded up $0.09 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $38.98. The company had a trading volume of 798,552 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,178,625. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $39.31 and a 200 day simple moving average of $35.32. The company has a quick ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.51. The stock has a market cap of $4.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -40.07 and a beta of 1.46. Lazard has a 12-month low of $25.82 and a 12-month high of $42.24.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 17th. Investors of record on Monday, May 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 3rd. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.13%. Lazard's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -206.18%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on LAZ. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $49.00 target price (down from $51.00) on shares of Lazard in a research report on Friday. TheStreet upgraded Lazard from a "d+" rating to a "c+" rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $58.00 target price on shares of Lazard in a report on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lazard from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Lazard from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $42.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $45.67.

Insider Transactions at Lazard

In related news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 75,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.35, for a total transaction of $2,951,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 227,448 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,950,078.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 3.86% 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.