Lazard Ltd (NYSE:LAZ) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Lazard Ltd (NYSE:LAZ – Get Rating) have received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the nine research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have given a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $46.25.

A number of analysts recently issued reports on LAZ shares. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of Lazard from $49.00 to $45.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 7th. JMP Securities lowered their price target on shares of Lazard from $58.00 to $56.00 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 7th. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Lazard from a “peer perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $39.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Thursday, April 7th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Lazard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Lazard from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $40.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, March 8th.

Shares of Lazard stock opened at $33.49 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.08. Lazard has a 12-month low of $31.64 and a 12-month high of $53.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.23 and a beta of 1.52. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $34.45 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $41.39.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 3rd. The asset manager reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $1.45 by $0.47. The firm had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $856.96 million. Lazard had a net margin of 16.13% and a return on equity of 59.74%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.66 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Lazard will post 4.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $0.47 per share. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 11th. Lazard’s payout ratio is 40.60%.

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of LAZ. Huntington National Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Lazard in the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. Bessemer Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Lazard in the fourth quarter valued at about $55,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of Lazard in the fourth quarter valued at about $86,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd raised its position in shares of Lazard by 119.8% in the third quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 2,743 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $126,000 after buying an additional 1,495 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Bay Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Lazard by 100.0% in the third quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 2,858 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $130,000 after buying an additional 1,429 shares during the last quarter.

About Lazard (Get Rating)

Lazard Ltd, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a financial advisory and asset management firm in North America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and Central and South America. It operates in two segments, Financial Advisory and Asset Management. The Financial Advisory segment offers various financial advisory services regarding mergers and acquisitions, restructurings, capital advisory, shareholder advisory, capital raising, sovereign advisory, and other strategic advisory matters.

Recommended Stories