Lazard, Inc. to Post Q1 2024 Earnings of $0.54 Per Share, Seaport Res Ptn Forecasts (NYSE:LAZ)

Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) – Equities research analysts at Seaport Res Ptn upped their Q1 2024 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of Lazard in a report released on Wednesday, April 10th. Seaport Res Ptn analyst J. Mitchell now expects that the asset manager will post earnings of $0.54 per share for the quarter, up from their prior forecast of $0.21. The consensus estimate for Lazard’s current full-year earnings is $3.22 per share. Seaport Res Ptn also issued estimates for Lazard’s Q3 2024 earnings at $0.69 EPS.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Wolfe Research upgraded Lazard from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $51.00 price objective on shares of Lazard in a research note on Monday, January 29th. TheStreet upgraded Lazard from a “d+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Lazard from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 19th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Lazard from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.00.

Lazard Trading Down 1.1 %

NYSE LAZ opened at $37.15 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -38.28 and a beta of 1.46. Lazard has a one year low of $25.82 and a one year high of $42.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.51, a current ratio of 1.62 and a quick ratio of 1.62. The business’s fifty day moving average is $39.32 and its 200-day moving average is $34.89.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The asset manager reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.31. The company had revenue of $825.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $666.56 million. Lazard had a positive return on equity of 16.43% and a negative net margin of 2.93%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.69 EPS.

Institutional Trading of Lazard

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. CENTRAL TRUST Co boosted its stake in shares of Lazard by 88.7% during the third quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 800 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 376 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lazard during the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lazard during the first quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its stake in shares of Lazard by 489.4% during the third quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,727 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 1,434 shares during the period. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lazard during the third quarter valued at approximately $60,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lazard news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 75,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.35, for a total value of $2,951,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 227,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,950,078.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 3.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 12th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.38%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 9th. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio is currently -206.18%.

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.