Investors Research Corp Trims Stock Position in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Investors Research Corp cut its position in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 11.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,200 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 800 shares during the period. Investors Research Corp’s holdings in Lazard were worth $216,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of LAZ. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Lazard during the fourth quarter valued at about $29,191,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its position in shares of Lazard by 265.0% during the third quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 791,158 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $24,740,000 after acquiring an additional 574,379 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG increased its position in shares of Lazard by 84.3% during the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,019,121 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $31,603,000 after acquiring an additional 466,301 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Lazard by 14.1% during the second quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,750,853 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $121,565,000 after acquiring an additional 462,677 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ariel Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Lazard by 5.4% in the first quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 8,560,437 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $295,335,000 after purchasing an additional 439,866 shares in the last quarter. 54.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $58.00 price objective on shares of Lazard in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Lazard from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Lazard from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 19th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $51.00 price objective on shares of Lazard in a report on Monday, January 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.00.

Lazard Trading Down 2.0 %

NYSE LAZ opened at $37.61 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.51. Lazard, Inc. has a 52 week low of $25.82 and a 52 week high of $42.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.24 billion, a PE ratio of -38.77 and a beta of 1.46. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $39.32 and a two-hundred day moving average of $34.89.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The asset manager reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.31. Lazard had a negative net margin of 2.93% and a positive return on equity of 16.43%. The company had revenue of $825.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $666.56 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.69 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Lazard, Inc. will post 3.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 12th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -206.18%.

Insider Transactions at Lazard

In other news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 75,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.35, for a total transaction of $2,951,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 227,448 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,950,078.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 3.14% of the company’s stock.

Lazard 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.