Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) Cut to “Hold” at Zacks Research

Zacks Research downgraded shares of Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Monday morning,Zacks.com reports. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Lazard’s Q3 2025 earnings at $0.40 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $0.90 EPS, Q4 2026 earnings at $1.02 EPS, FY2026 earnings at $3.60 EPS, Q1 2027 earnings at $1.30 EPS, Q2 2027 earnings at $1.32 EPS and FY2027 earnings at $5.08 EPS.

LAZ has been the subject of several other research reports. JMP Securities set a $60.00 target price on shares of Lazard and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Lazard from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $60.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Monday, August 25th. Citigroup reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Lazard in a report on Monday, July 14th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Lazard from $47.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Lazard from $38.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lazard currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $55.00.

Lazard Price Performance

LAZ stock opened at $55.00 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.97 and a beta of 1.35. Lazard has a twelve month low of $31.97 and a twelve month high of $61.14. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $54.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $47.31. The company has a current ratio of 2.53, a quick ratio of 2.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $796.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $674.13 million. Lazard had a net margin of 9.96% and a return on equity of 34.33%. Lazard’s quarterly revenue was up 16.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.52 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Lazard will post 4.24 EPS for the current year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. Lazard’s payout ratio is presently 68.97%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Michael Gathy sold 617 shares of Lazard stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.37, for a total transaction of $34,163.29. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 32,475 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.09, for a total value of $1,756,572.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 183,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,913,290.66. This trade represents a 15.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 108,092 shares of company stock worth $6,030,986. Insiders own 3.86% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Calton & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Lazard in the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. State of Wyoming acquired a new position in Lazard in the 2nd quarter valued at $38,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Lazard by 57.2% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 918 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 334 shares during the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. acquired a new position in Lazard in the 2nd quarter valued at $49,000. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. acquired a new position in Lazard in the 1st quarter valued at $50,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

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.