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

Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 24th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Monday, May 6th will be paid a dividend of 0.50 per share by the asset manager on Friday, May 17th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.13%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 3rd.

Lazard has increased its dividend payment by an average of 2.1% per year over the last three years. Lazard has a payout ratio of 47.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Lazard to earn $4.44 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 45.0%.

Lazard Price Performance

Shares of LAZ traded up $0.09 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $38.98. 798,552 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,178,625. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.51, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a current ratio of 1.62. Lazard has a 12-month low of $25.82 and a 12-month high of $42.24. The company has a market cap of $4.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -40.07 and a beta of 1.46. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $39.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $35.32.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The asset manager reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.08. Lazard had a positive return on equity of 16.43% and a negative net margin of 2.93%. The firm had revenue of $765.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $678.57 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.26) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 41.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Lazard will post 3.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.35, for a total transaction of $2,951,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 227,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,950,078.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 3.86% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.