Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) Shares Gap Up to $39.30

Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) shares gapped up prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $39.30, but opened at $40.37. Lazard shares last traded at $38.23, with a volume of 315,940 shares trading hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on LAZ. TheStreet raised Lazard from a “d+” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. StockNews.com upgraded Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $58.00 target price on shares of Lazard in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Wolfe Research raised Lazard from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 price target for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $51.00 price target on shares of Lazard in a research report on Monday, January 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.00.

Lazard Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.51. The firm has a market cap of $4.39 billion, a P/E ratio of -40.05 and a beta of 1.46. The business’s 50 day moving average is $39.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $35.30.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The asset manager reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.69 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Lazard, Inc. will post 3.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 12th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.14%. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio is presently -206.18%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.35, for a total value of $2,951,250.00. Following 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 is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 3.86% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lazard

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LAZ. Simplicity Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Lazard in the first quarter valued at approximately $717,000. Sweet Financial Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Lazard by 2.9% during the first quarter. Sweet Financial Partners LLC now owns 17,500 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $733,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Hunter Perkins Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Lazard during the first quarter worth about $1,229,000. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System purchased a new stake in shares of Lazard during the 1st quarter valued at about $362,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in Lazard during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.