Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) Plans $0.50 Quarterly Dividend

Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 24th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Monday, May 6th will be given a dividend of 0.50 per share by the asset manager on Friday, May 17th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 3rd.

Lazard has raised its dividend by an average of 2.1% per year over the last three years. Lazard has a payout ratio of 47.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Lazard to earn $4.44 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 45.0%.

Lazard Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:LAZ traded up $0.09 during trading on Friday, hitting $38.98. 798,552 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,178,625. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $39.31 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $35.32. The company has a market cap of $4.40 billion, a PE ratio of -40.07 and a beta of 1.46. 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 has a 12-month low of $25.82 and a 12-month high of $42.24.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The asset manager reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $765.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $678.57 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 41.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.26) EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Lazard will post 3.22 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lazard news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were 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 approximately $8,950,078.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 3.86% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. TheStreet upgraded shares of Lazard from a “d+” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Lazard from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $58.00 target price on shares of Lazard in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Lazard from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $45.67.

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.