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

Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, October 30th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th will be given a dividend of 0.50 per share by the asset manager on Friday, November 15th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th.

Lazard has increased its dividend payment by an average of 2.1% annually over the last three years. Lazard has a dividend payout ratio of 50.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Lazard to earn $4.40 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 45.5%.

Lazard Trading Up 0.6 %

NYSE LAZ traded up $0.32 during trading on Friday, hitting $53.31. The company had a trading volume of 1,001,059 shares, compared to its average volume of 941,402. The company's fifty day moving average is $50.00 and its 200-day moving average is $44.21. Lazard has a one year low of $25.82 and a one year high of $54.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.94, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.60. The company has a market cap of $6.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.30 and a beta of 1.39.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The asset manager reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.41 by ($0.03). Lazard had a return on equity of 41.78% and a net margin of 5.50%. The company had revenue of $646.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $644.22 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.10 earnings per share. Lazard's quarterly revenue was up 21.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Lazard will post 2.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Lazard from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. StockNews.com raised shares of Lazard from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Lazard from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. JMP Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Lazard from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Lazard from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $53.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lazard

In other news, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 87,770 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.08, for a total value of $4,219,981.60. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 1,553,225 shares in the company, valued at approximately $74,679,058. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 87,770 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.08, for a total value of $4,219,981.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 1,553,225 shares in the company, valued at $74,679,058. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 86,728 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.02, for a total value of $4,338,134.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 1,640,995 shares in the company, valued at $82,082,569.90. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 176,497 shares of company stock worth $8,658,086. 3.86% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.