Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) Announces Earnings Results

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The asset manager reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.08, Briefing.com reports. Lazard had a positive return on equity of 37.47% and a negative net margin of 0.63%. The firm had revenue of $765.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $678.57 million. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.26) EPS. The business’s revenue was up 41.1% compared to the same quarter last year.

Lazard Stock Performance

Lazard stock opened at $38.98 on Friday. Lazard has a 52 week low of $25.82 and a 52 week high of $42.24. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $39.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $35.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.51, a current ratio of 1.62 and a quick ratio of 1.62.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 6th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 3rd. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.13%. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio is currently -571.41%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lazard news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 75,000 shares of Lazard stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 3.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. TheStreet raised shares of Lazard from a “d+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $58.00 price objective on shares of Lazard in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Lazard from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Lazard from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lazard presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.67.

About Lazard

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.