Lazard, Inc. to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.50 (NYSE:LAZ)

Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 29th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be given a dividend of 0.50 per share by the asset manager on Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th.

Lazard has increased its dividend payment by an average of 2.1% annually over the last three years. Lazard has a payout ratio of 42.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Lazard to earn $4.02 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 49.8%.

Lazard Stock Performance

Lazard stock opened at $55.09 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.21 billion, a PE ratio of 21.95 and a beta of 1.40. Lazard has a one year low of $35.56 and a one year high of $61.14. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $52.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $50.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.24 and a current ratio of 2.24.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.09. Lazard had a net margin of 8.28% and a return on equity of 42.20%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Lazard will post 2.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on LAZ shares. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Lazard from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $60.00 to $63.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. JMP Securities increased their price target on Lazard from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com lowered Lazard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Lazard from $59.00 to $51.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of Lazard from $57.00 to $52.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average 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.