California State Teachers Retirement System Has $4.42 Million Stock Holdings in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

California State Teachers Retirement System lessened its holdings in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 2.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 85,781 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 2,054 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System owned 0.08% of Lazard worth $4,416,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Arizona State Retirement System grew its holdings in Lazard by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 26,169 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,347,000 after acquiring an additional 196 shares during the period. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina grew its holdings in shares of Lazard by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 48,129 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,478,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. Great Lakes Retirement Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Lazard by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc. now owns 18,981 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $977,000 after buying an additional 335 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Lazard by 54.3% in the 4th quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 977 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 344 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Lazard by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 95,707 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,927,000 after buying an additional 365 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Lazard

In other Lazard news, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 64,539 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.56, for a total transaction of $2,940,396.84. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 170,285 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,758,184.60. The trade was a 27.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 3.86% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Lazard Trading Up 1.7%

LAZ opened at $43.65 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.41 and a beta of 1.28. Lazard, Inc. has a 12 month low of $31.97 and a 12 month high of $61.14. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $47.72. 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 (NYSE:LAZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The asset manager reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.27. The business had revenue of $669.16 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $698.39 million. Lazard had a net margin of 8.98% and a return on equity of 44.58%. The firm’s revenue was down 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.66 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Investors of record on Monday, May 5th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 5th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.58%. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio is currently 69.69%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on LAZ shares. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Lazard from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Lazard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Lazard from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Lazard from $44.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut shares of Lazard from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $56.00 to $33.00 in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $44.33.

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.