Lazard Asset Management LLC Decreases Stock Position in Invesco Ltd. (NYSE:IVZ)

Lazard Asset Management LLC lowered its stake in Invesco Ltd. (NYSE:IVZ) by 50.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 63,637 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 64,427 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Invesco were worth $1,111,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Invesco by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 51,494,654 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $900,127,000 after buying an additional 419,389 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Invesco by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 20,104,545 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $351,430,000 after buying an additional 274,134 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Invesco by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,383,206 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $181,281,000 after buying an additional 134,726 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Invesco by 38.5% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 8,145,596 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $142,385,000 after buying an additional 2,264,551 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Invesco by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 6,380,191 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $111,526,000 after buying an additional 31,854 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.09% of the company’s stock.

Invesco Stock Performance

Invesco stock opened at $15.33 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $14.30 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $16.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 4.91 and a current ratio of 4.91. The stock has a market cap of $6.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.99, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.47. Invesco Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $11.60 and a fifty-two week high of $19.55.

Invesco (NYSE:IVZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The asset manager reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.11 billion. Invesco had a return on equity of 8.18% and a net margin of 12.77%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.33 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Invesco Ltd. will post 1.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Invesco Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 14th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.48%. This is a boost from Invesco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 14th. Invesco’s payout ratio is presently 67.20%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Invesco from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Citigroup cut their target price on Invesco from $20.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Invesco from $19.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Invesco from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Invesco from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $17.25.

Invesco Company Profile

Invesco Ltd. is a publicly owned investment manager. The firm provides its services to retail clients, institutional clients, high-net worth clients, public entities, corporations, unions, non-profit organizations, endowments, foundations, pension funds, financial institutions, and sovereign wealth funds.