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

Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, October 30th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th will be paid a dividend of 0.50 per share by the asset manager on Friday, November 15th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.75%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th.

Lazard has increased its dividend payment by an average of 2.1% annually over the last three years. Lazard has a dividend payout ratio of 50.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Lazard to earn $4.40 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 45.5%.

Lazard Stock Up 0.7 %

LAZ stock traded up $0.36 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $53.35. 45,350 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 936,894. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $50.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $44.21. Lazard has a 1-year low of $25.82 and a 1-year high of $54.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.60, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a current ratio of 1.94. The company has a market cap of $6.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.30 and a beta of 1.39.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The asset manager reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.41 by ($0.03). Lazard had a return on equity of 41.78% and a net margin of 5.50%. The company had revenue of $646.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $644.22 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.10 earnings per share. Lazard’s revenue was up 21.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Lazard will post 2.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on Lazard in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $51.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective 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. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Lazard from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $56.00 price target (up previously from $49.00) on shares of Lazard in a report on Friday, July 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $51.71.

Insider Transactions at Lazard

In other news, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 87,770 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.08, for a total transaction of $4,219,981.60. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 1,553,225 shares in the company, valued at $74,679,058. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 87,770 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chairman now owns 1,553,225 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $74,679,058. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 1,999 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.01, for a total value of $99,969.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 1,727,723 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $86,403,427.23. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 176,497 shares of company stock worth $8,658,086. Company insiders own 3.86% of the company’s stock.

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.