Seaport Res Ptn Weighs in on Lazard’s Q3 Earnings (NYSE:LAZ)

Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) – Analysts at Seaport Res Ptn cut their Q3 2026 earnings per share estimates for Lazard in a research note issued on Wednesday, April 9th. Seaport Res Ptn analyst J. Mitchell now expects that the asset manager will post earnings per share of $0.94 for the quarter, down from their prior estimate of $1.13. The consensus estimate for Lazard’s current full-year earnings is $4.24 per share. Seaport Res Ptn also issued estimates for Lazard’s Q4 2026 earnings at $1.51 EPS.

LAZ has been the subject of several other research reports. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Lazard from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. UBS Group boosted their price target on Lazard from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com downgraded Lazard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Lazard from $44.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, JMP Securities decreased their target price on Lazard from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lazard currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.83.

Lazard Price Performance

NYSE LAZ opened at $34.64 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.24, a current ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.91 billion, a PE ratio of 13.02 and a beta of 1.27. Lazard has a 12-month low of $31.97 and a 12-month high of $61.14. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $46.39 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $50.62.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.09. Lazard had a return on equity of 44.58% and a net margin of 8.98%.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.77%. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio is 75.19%.

Insider Transactions at Lazard

In other Lazard news, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 64,539 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.56, for a total value of $2,940,396.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 170,285 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,758,184.60. This represents a 27.48 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.32, for a total value of $1,383,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 163,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,041,943.36. This represents a 13.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 189,078 shares of company stock worth $9,120,541. Insiders own 3.86% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Lazard by 2.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,948,167 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $98,149,000 after buying an additional 55,469 shares in the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new stake in shares of Lazard during the 4th quarter valued at about $947,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Lazard by 128.4% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 678,617 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $34,935,000 after acquiring an additional 381,546 shares in the last quarter. Monument Capital Management acquired a new position in Lazard in the fourth quarter worth about $2,809,000. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Lazard by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,862,389 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $95,876,000 after purchasing an additional 90,152 shares during the period. 54.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.