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

Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) 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 changing hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on LAZ. Wolfe Research upgraded 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. TheStreet upgraded Lazard from a “d+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Lazard from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $58.00 price target on shares of Lazard in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $51.00 price target on shares of Lazard in a report on Monday, January 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.00.

Lazard Trading Down 1.0 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.51, a current ratio of 1.62 and a quick ratio of 1.62. The company has a market cap of $4.39 billion, a PE ratio of -40.05 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a 50-day moving average of $39.29 and a 200 day moving average of $35.30.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The asset manager reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.31. The business 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.69 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Lazard, Inc. will post 3.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lazard news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 227,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,950,078.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 3.86% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lazard

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of LAZ. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Lazard by 1,165.9% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 176,491 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $6,142,000 after acquiring an additional 162,549 shares in the last quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC grew its position in Lazard by 25.2% during the 4th quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 140,285 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,882,000 after purchasing an additional 28,250 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG grew its holdings in shares of Lazard by 84.3% during the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,019,121 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $31,603,000 after acquiring an additional 466,301 shares in the last quarter. Argent Trust Co grew its holdings in shares of Lazard by 55.1% during the 3rd quarter. Argent Trust Co now owns 47,659 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,478,000 after acquiring an additional 16,930 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd boosted its holdings in Lazard by 22.5% in the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 245,137 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $7,602,000 after purchasing an additional 44,976 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.80% 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.