FY2025 Earnings Forecast for Lazard Issued By Zacks Research

Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) – Investment analysts at Zacks Research lowered their FY2025 earnings estimates for shares of Lazard in a research note issued on Tuesday, September 23rd. Zacks Research analyst Team now forecasts that the asset manager will earn $2.38 per share for the year, down from their previous estimate of $2.44. Zacks Research currently has a “Hold” rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for Lazard’s current full-year earnings is $4.24 per share.

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

Lazard Stock Down 2.2%

Shares of NYSE LAZ opened at $53.75 on Thursday. Lazard has a 12-month low of $31.97 and a 12-month high of $61.14. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $54.66 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $47.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.06 billion, a PE ratio of 18.53 and a beta of 1.35. 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 data on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $796.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $674.13 million. Lazard had a net margin of 9.96% and a return on equity of 34.33%. Lazard’s revenue was up 16.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.52 earnings per share.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lazard

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of LAZ. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Lazard by 2,324.4% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,099,179 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $264,096,000 after acquiring an additional 5,847,608 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Lazard during the second quarter valued at $66,547,000. Amundi lifted its position in Lazard by 141.6% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 2,263,046 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $97,990,000 after purchasing an additional 1,326,370 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in Lazard in the second quarter valued at $34,305,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Lazard by 42.2% during the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,644,323 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $71,199,000 after purchasing an additional 487,574 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lazard

In other Lazard news, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 32,475 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.09, for a total transaction of $1,756,572.75. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 183,274 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,913,290.66. This represents a 15.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.95, for a total transaction of $2,847,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 227,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,979,759.25. This represents a 17.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 108,092 shares of company stock worth $6,030,986. 3.86% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The business 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. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. Lazard’s payout ratio is currently 68.97%.

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.