Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) Reaches New 12-Month High at $42.60

Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZGet Free Report)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $42.60 and last traded at $42.58, with a volume of 65415 shares. The stock had previously closed at $41.44.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LAZ has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Lazard from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. StockNews.com raised shares of Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Lazard from $58.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $49.00 price objective (down from $51.00) on shares of Lazard in a research report on Friday, April 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Lazard has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.00.

Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on LAZ

Lazard Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.13, a quick ratio of 1.89 and a current ratio of 1.89. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $39.13 and its 200 day moving average is $38.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.87 billion, a PE ratio of -118.40 and a beta of 1.40.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZGet Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The asset manager reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $765.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $678.57 million. Lazard had a negative net margin of 0.63% and a positive return on equity of 37.27%. The company’s revenue was up 41.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.26) EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Lazard, Inc. will post 2.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 17th. Investors of record on Monday, May 6th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.63%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 3rd. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -571.41%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lazard news, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 6,762 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.00, for a total transaction of $270,480.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 1,982,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $79,313,160. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 154,131 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.21, for a total value of $6,197,607.51. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 1,989,591 shares in the company, valued at approximately $80,001,454.11. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 6,762 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.00, for a total transaction of $270,480.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 1,982,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $79,313,160. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 207,000 shares of company stock valued at $8,321,128. Insiders own 3.86% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Lazard

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in shares of Lazard by 161.1% in the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 27,765 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,060,000 after acquiring an additional 17,130 shares during the period. O Keefe Stevens Advisory Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Lazard by 2.4% in the second quarter. O Keefe Stevens Advisory Inc. now owns 209,350 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $7,993,000 after purchasing an additional 4,851 shares during the period. Hilltop National Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Lazard in the second quarter valued at about $226,000. Cetera Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Lazard in the first quarter valued at about $270,000. Finally, Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Lazard in the first quarter valued at about $6,733,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Lazard Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

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