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

Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, April 26th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders 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 payment by an average of 2.1% annually over the last three years. Lazard has a dividend payout ratio of 47.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities 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 Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of Lazard stock traded up $0.10 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $38.99. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 798,402 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,178,624. Lazard has a 12 month low of $25.82 and a 12 month high of $42.24. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $39.31 and a 200 day moving average of $35.32. The company has a market capitalization of $4.40 billion, a PE ratio of -40.07 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.51, a current ratio of 1.62 and a quick ratio of 1.62.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com raised Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $58.00 price objective on shares of Lazard in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Wolfe Research raised Lazard from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. UBS Group increased their target price on Lazard from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, TheStreet upgraded Lazard from a “d+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lazard

In related news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.35, for a total transaction of $2,951,250.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 227,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,950,078.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 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.