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

Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) – Seaport Res Ptn upped their Q1 2024 EPS estimates for Lazard in a research report issued on Wednesday, April 10th. Seaport Res Ptn analyst J. Mitchell now anticipates that the asset manager will post earnings of $0.54 per share for the quarter, up from their prior estimate 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.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The asset manager reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $825.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $666.56 million. Lazard had a negative net margin of 2.93% and a positive return on equity of 16.43%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.69 earnings per share.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on LAZ. 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 report on Tuesday, December 19th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of 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. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Lazard from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Lazard from a “d+” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.00.

Lazard Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE LAZ opened at $37.15 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $4.19 billion, a P/E ratio of -38.28 and a beta of 1.46. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $39.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $34.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.51, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a current ratio of 1.62. Lazard has a 52-week low of $25.82 and a 52-week high of $42.24.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 3.14% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lazard

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. CENTRAL TRUST Co grew its stake in shares of Lazard by 88.7% in the third quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 800 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 376 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lazard in the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lazard in the first quarter valued at about $48,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its stake in shares of Lazard by 489.4% in the third quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,727 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 1,434 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lazard in the third quarter valued at about $60,000. 54.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.