Seaport Res Ptn Issues Negative Estimate for Lazard Earnings

Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) – Equities researchers at Seaport Res Ptn dropped their Q4 2024 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of Lazard in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, January 13th. Seaport Res Ptn analyst J. Mitchell now forecasts that the asset manager will post earnings per share of $0.54 for the quarter, down from their prior forecast of $0.75. The consensus estimate for Lazard’s current full-year earnings is $2.18 per share. Seaport Res Ptn also issued estimates for Lazard’s Q3 2025 earnings at $0.92 EPS.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Morgan Stanley downgraded Lazard from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $60.00 to $63.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Wolfe Research downgraded Lazard from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on Lazard from $57.00 to $52.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. UBS Group lifted their price target on Lazard from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Lazard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lazard currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.50.

Lazard Stock Up 5.7 %

LAZ opened at $49.57 on Wednesday. Lazard has a fifty-two week low of $35.56 and a fifty-two week high of $61.14. The business has a 50-day moving average of $53.67 and a 200-day moving average of $49.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72, a current ratio of 2.24 and a quick ratio of 2.24. The company has a market capitalization of $5.59 billion, a PE ratio of 19.75 and a beta of 1.40.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The asset manager reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by ($0.03). Lazard had a return on equity of 42.20% and a net margin of 8.28%. The firm had revenue of $646.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $644.22 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.10 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.4% on a year-over-year basis.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio is 79.68%.

Institutional Trading of Lazard

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Lazard by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,250,049 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $113,357,000 after buying an additional 206,295 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Lazard by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,948,167 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $98,149,000 after buying an additional 55,469 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Lazard by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,813,553 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $91,392,000 after buying an additional 15,151 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Lazard by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,772,237 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $89,285,000 after buying an additional 37,681 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Claro Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Lazard by 10,306.7% in the 3rd quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 1,235,793 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $62,259,000 after buying an additional 1,223,918 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Lazard Company Profile

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.