Lazard (LAZ) Competitors

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

Do analysts recommend LAZ or AMP?

Lazard presently has a consensus price target of $51.00, indicating a potential downside of 6.09%. Ameriprise Financial has a consensus price target of $524.71, indicating a potential downside of 3.63%. Given Ameriprise Financial's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Ameriprise Financial is more favorable than Lazard.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lazard	2 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
Ameriprise Financial	2 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.14

Does the media prefer LAZ or AMP?

In the previous week, Lazard had 4 more articles in the media than Ameriprise Financial. MarketBeat recorded 27 mentions for Lazard and 23 mentions for Ameriprise Financial. Ameriprise Financial's average media sentiment score of 0.93 beat Lazard's score of 0.64 indicating that Ameriprise Financial is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Lazard	8 Very Positive mention(s)	6 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Ameriprise Financial	15 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is LAZ or AMP a better dividend stock?

Lazard pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. Ameriprise Financial pays an annual dividend of $6.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Lazard pays out 69.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Ameriprise Financial pays out 21.7% 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 raised its dividend for 21 consecutive years.

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

54.8% of Lazard shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 84.0% of Ameriprise Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 3.9% of Lazard shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of Ameriprise Financial shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Is LAZ or AMP 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
Lazard	10.15%	37.64%	5.18%
Ameriprise Financial	17.14%	68.93%	2.03%

Which has more volatility and risk, LAZ or AMP?

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

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, LAZ or AMP?

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
Lazard	$3.05B	2.01	$279.91M	$2.87	18.92
Ameriprise Financial	$17.26B	3.00	$3.40B	$29.43	18.50

Summary

Ameriprise Financial beats Lazard on 13 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.