Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) Hits New 12-Month High at $42.20

Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) shares hit a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $42.20 and last traded at $42.12, with a volume of 298887 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $41.38.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on LAZ. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Lazard from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. TheStreet upgraded Lazard from a “d+” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Lazard from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 19th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $51.00 price objective on shares of Lazard in a research note on Monday, January 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lazard currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.83.

Lazard Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $4.72 billion, a P/E ratio of -43.16 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $39.13 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $34.15. The company has a current ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.51.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The asset manager reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.31. The company had revenue of $825.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $666.56 million. Lazard had a negative net margin of 2.93% and a positive return on equity of 16.43%. The firm’s revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.69 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Lazard, Inc. will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 12th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.78%. Lazard’s payout ratio is currently -206.18%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 transaction of $2,951,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 227,448 shares in the company, valued at $8,950,078.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 3.86% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lazard

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky boosted its stake in Lazard by 15.4% in the fourth quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 101,200 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,522,000 after acquiring an additional 13,500 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio increased its holdings in shares of Lazard by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 50,494 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,757,000 after purchasing an additional 1,202 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of Lazard by 42.6% during the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 490,278 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $17,064,000 after acquiring an additional 146,437 shares in the last quarter. Weiss Multi Strategy Advisers LLC increased its holdings in Lazard by 319.2% in the 4th quarter. Weiss Multi Strategy Advisers LLC now owns 484,137 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $16,848,000 after acquiring an additional 368,637 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Lazard by 22.6% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 477,670 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $16,623,000 after acquiring an additional 87,913 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

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.