Lazard (LAZ) Competitors

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

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of LAZ or AMP?

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

Do analysts recommend LAZ or AMP?

Lazard presently has a consensus target price of $46.33, suggesting a potential downside of 8.01%. Ameriprise Financial has a consensus target price of $517.86, suggesting a potential downside of 4.64%. Given Ameriprise Financial's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly 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)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.86
Ameriprise Financial	1 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.29

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, LAZ or AMP?

Ameriprise Financial has higher revenue and earnings than Lazard. Lazard is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ameriprise Financial, 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	1.86	$279.91M	$2.87	17.55
Ameriprise Financial	$17.26B	3.00	$3.40B	$29.43	18.45

Does the media prefer LAZ or AMP?

In the previous week, Ameriprise Financial had 13 more articles in the media than Lazard. MarketBeat recorded 34 mentions for Ameriprise Financial and 21 mentions for Lazard. Ameriprise Financial's average media sentiment score of 1.34 beat Lazard's score of 0.42 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	4 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	7 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	2 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Ameriprise Financial	25 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

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 & 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.

Is LAZ or AMP a better dividend stock?

Lazard pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.0%. 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 increased its dividend for 21 consecutive years.

Summary

Ameriprise Financial beats Lazard on 15 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.