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

Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 24th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 6th will be paid a dividend of 0.50 per share by the asset manager on Friday, May 17th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.13%. The ex-dividend date 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% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research 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

NYSE:LAZ traded up $0.09 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $38.98. The stock had a trading volume of 798,552 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,178,625. Lazard has a one year low of $25.82 and a one year high of $42.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.51, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a current ratio of 1.62. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $39.31 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $35.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.40 billion, a P/E ratio of -40.07 and a beta of 1.46.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The asset manager reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $765.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $678.57 million. Lazard had a negative net margin of 2.93% and a positive return on equity of 16.43%. The firm’s revenue was up 41.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.26) EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Lazard will post 3.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Lazard

In related news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 75,000 shares of Lazard 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 in the company, valued at $8,950,078.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 3.86% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LAZ has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. TheStreet raised Lazard from a “d+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Wolfe Research upgraded Lazard from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $58.00 price objective on shares of Lazard in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Lazard from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.