Zacks Research Comments on Lazard’s Q4 Earnings (NYSE:LAZ)

Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) – Equities researchers at Zacks Research lowered their Q4 2025 EPS estimates for Lazard in a research note issued on Thursday, February 20th. Zacks Research analyst R. Department now forecasts that the asset manager will post earnings of $1.39 per share for the quarter, down from their prior estimate of $1.41. The consensus estimate for Lazard’s current full-year earnings is $4.24 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Lazard’s Q2 2026 earnings at $1.17 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $1.21 EPS, FY2026 earnings at $4.86 EPS and FY2027 earnings at $5.98 EPS.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on LAZ. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of Lazard from $51.00 to $44.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Lazard from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Lazard from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Wolfe Research cut shares of Lazard from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.33.

Lazard Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of Lazard stock opened at $48.98 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $5.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.41 and a beta of 1.41. Lazard has a one year low of $35.56 and a one year high of $61.14. 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 stock’s 50-day moving average is $51.88 and its 200 day moving average is $51.80.

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

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.08%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 75.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lazard

In other Lazard news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 35,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.64, for a total value of $1,877,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 188,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,108,350.72. This trade represents a 15.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 3.86% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. purchased a new position in Lazard in the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Lazard during the 4th quarter worth $41,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Lazard in the fourth quarter worth $46,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Lazard in the third quarter valued at $50,000. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its position in Lazard by 54.3% during the fourth quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 977 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 344 shares in the last quarter. 54.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.