Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) Posts Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.03 EPS

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The asset manager reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.41 by ($0.03), Briefing.com reports. Lazard had a return on equity of 41.78% and a net margin of 5.50%. The business had revenue of $646.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $644.22 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.10 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 21.4% compared to the same quarter last year.

Lazard Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of Lazard stock traded up $0.32 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $53.31. 1,001,059 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 941,402. The company has a current ratio of 1.94, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.60. The company has a 50 day moving average of $50.00 and a two-hundred day moving average of $44.21. The stock has a market cap of $6.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.30 and a beta of 1.39. Lazard has a fifty-two week low of $25.82 and a fifty-two week high of $54.72.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.75%. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 129.03%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on LAZ. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Lazard from $59.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Lazard from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. JMP Securities upped their price target on shares of Lazard from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Lazard from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Lazard presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $53.00.

Insider Activity at Lazard

In related news, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 87,770 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.08, for a total transaction of $4,219,981.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 1,553,225 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $74,679,058. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 86,728 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.02, for a total value of $4,338,134.56. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 1,640,995 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $82,082,569.90. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 87,770 shares of Lazard stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.08, for a total value of $4,219,981.60. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 1,553,225 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $74,679,058. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 176,497 shares of company stock valued at $8,658,086. 3.86% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Lazard

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.