Lazard (LAZ) Competitors

Ameriprise Financial (NYSE:AMP) and Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, media sentiment, profitability, valuation, earnings, institutional ownership and risk.

Which has more risk and volatility, AMP or LAZ?

Ameriprise Financial has a beta of 1.23, suggesting that its stock price is 23% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Lazard has a beta of 1.33, suggesting that its stock price is 33% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is AMP or LAZ a better dividend stock?

Ameriprise Financial pays an annual dividend of $6.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Lazard pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. Ameriprise Financial pays out 21.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Lazard pays out 69.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Ameriprise Financial has increased its dividend for 21 consecutive years.

Do analysts prefer AMP or LAZ?

Ameriprise Financial currently has a consensus price target of $524.71, suggesting a potential upside of 0.25%. Lazard has a consensus price target of $51.00, suggesting a potential downside of 1.83%. Given Ameriprise Financial's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Ameriprise Financial is more favorable than Lazard.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ameriprise Financial	2 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.14
Lazard	2 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.86

Does the media refer more to AMP or LAZ?

In the previous week, Lazard had 4 more articles in the media than Ameriprise Financial. MarketBeat recorded 23 mentions for Lazard and 19 mentions for Ameriprise Financial. Ameriprise Financial's average media sentiment score of 1.14 beat Lazard's score of 0.66 indicating that Ameriprise Financial is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Ameriprise Financial	10 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Lazard	8 Very Positive mention(s)	4 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has better earnings and valuation, AMP or LAZ?

Ameriprise Financial has higher revenue and earnings than Lazard. Ameriprise Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Lazard, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ameriprise Financial	$17.26B	2.89	$3.40B	$29.43	17.78
Lazard	$3.05B	1.92	$279.91M	$2.87	18.10

Is AMP or LAZ more profitable?

Ameriprise Financial has a net margin of 17.14% compared to Lazard's net margin of 10.15%. Ameriprise Financial's return on equity of 68.93% beat Lazard's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ameriprise Financial	17.14%	68.93%	2.03%
Lazard	10.15%	37.64%	5.18%

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in AMP or LAZ?

84.0% of Ameriprise Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 54.8% of Lazard shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.6% of Ameriprise Financial shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 2.3% of Lazard shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Ameriprise Financial beats Lazard on 13 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.