Lazard (LAZ) – Investment Analysts’ Recent Ratings Updates

Several brokerages have updated their recommendations and price targets on shares of Lazard (NYSE: LAZ) in the last few weeks:

• 2/3/2025 – Lazard had its price target raised by analysts at UBS Group AG from $50.00 to $54.00. They now have a “neutral” rating on the stock.
• 1/31/2025 – Lazard had its price target raised by analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $52.00 to $57.00. They now have a “market perform” rating on the stock.
• 1/31/2025 – Lazard had its price target raised by analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $51.00 to $55.00. They now have an “equal weight” rating on the stock.
• 1/31/2025 – Lazard had its price target raised by analysts at Morgan Stanley from $60.00 to $63.00. They now have an “equal weight” rating on the stock.
• 1/31/2025 – Lazard was upgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating.
• 1/15/2025 – Lazard had its price target lowered by analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. from $51.00 to $44.00. They now have a “sell” rating on the stock.
• 1/14/2025 – Lazard had its price target lowered by analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $59.00 to $51.00. They now have an “equal weight” rating on the stock.
• 1/13/2025 – Lazard had its price target lowered by analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $57.00 to $52.00. They now have a “market perform” rating on the stock.
• 1/3/2025 – Lazard was downgraded by analysts at Wolfe Research from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating.
• 12/20/2024 – Lazard was downgraded by analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating. They now have a $57.00 price target on the stock, down previously from $65.00.
• 12/9/2024 – Lazard was downgraded by analysts at Morgan Stanley from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating. They now have a $63.00 price target on the stock, up previously from $60.00.

Lazard Price Performance

LAZ traded down $0.80 on Tuesday, hitting $52.20. 772,517 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,075,046. Lazard, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $35.56 and a fifty-two week high of $61.14. The company has a current ratio of 2.24, a quick ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $52.82 and a 200-day moving average price of $50.96. The stock has a market cap of $5.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.62 and a beta of 1.41.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.09. Lazard had a net margin of 8.98% and a return on equity of 44.58%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Lazard, Inc. will post 3.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.83%. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 75.19%.

Institutional Trading of Lazard

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Berbice Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Lazard in the 4th quarter valued at about $46,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Lazard in the 3rd quarter valued at about $50,000. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Lazard in the 4th quarter valued at about $53,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Lazard in the 4th quarter valued at about $60,000. Finally, HHM Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Lazard by 209.0% in the 4th quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,267 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $65,000 after buying an additional 857 shares during the period. 54.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.