Lazard, Inc. (LAZ) To Go Ex-Dividend on February 10th

Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 29th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be paid a dividend of 0.50 per share by the asset manager on Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.76%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th.

Lazard has increased its dividend by an average of 2.1% annually over the last three years. Lazard has a dividend payout ratio of 42.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Lazard to earn $5.06 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 39.5%.

Lazard Stock Performance

NYSE LAZ opened at $53.24 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $6.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.02 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $52.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $51.11. The company has a current ratio of 2.24, a quick ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72. Lazard has a 12-month low of $35.56 and a 12-month high of $61.14.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $0.78 EPS 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%. Sell-side analysts predict that Lazard will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on LAZ. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Lazard from $51.00 to $44.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Lazard from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com upgraded Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Lazard from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Lazard from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.33.

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.