Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) announced its earnings results on Thursday. The asset manager reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.09, Zacks reports. Lazard had a net margin of 8.28% and a return on equity of 42.20%.

Lazard Trading Up 4.5 %

NYSE LAZ traded up $2.35 during trading on Thursday, hitting $55.07. The company had a trading volume of 453,531 shares, compared to its average volume of 982,614. The company’s fifty day moving average is $52.93 and its 200-day moving average is $50.77. Lazard has a one year low of $35.56 and a one year high of $61.14. The company has a current ratio of 2.24, a quick ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72. The company has a market cap of $6.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.93 and a beta of 1.40.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.63%. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 79.68%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on LAZ. Wolfe Research cut Lazard from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. JMP Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Lazard from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Lazard from $59.00 to $51.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Lazard from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Lazard from $51.00 to $44.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Lazard currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.50.

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.