Bleakley Financial Group LLC Has $549,000 Stock Holdings in Lazard, Inc. $LAZ

Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 5.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 11,439 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 587 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Lazard were worth $549,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Lazard by 2,324.4% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,099,179 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $264,096,000 after purchasing an additional 5,847,608 shares in the last quarter. Amundi increased its holdings in Lazard by 141.6% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 2,263,046 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $97,990,000 after purchasing an additional 1,326,370 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Lazard by 42.2% in the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,644,323 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $71,199,000 after purchasing an additional 487,574 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Lazard by 31.6% in the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,690,943 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $73,214,000 after purchasing an additional 406,232 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. acquired a new position in Lazard in the 2nd quarter worth about $14,772,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on LAZ shares. JMP Securities set a $60.00 target price on Lazard and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Lazard in a research report on Saturday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Lazard from $38.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Zacks Research lowered Lazard from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Lazard from $47.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $55.00.

Lazard Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of Lazard stock opened at $49.24 on Monday. Lazard, Inc. has a one year low of $31.97 and a one year high of $61.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 2.53 and a quick ratio of 2.53. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $53.47 and its 200 day moving average is $48.54. The firm has a market cap of $5.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.46 and a beta of 1.37.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The asset manager reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.17. Lazard had a return on equity of 37.15% and a net margin of 8.89%.The company had revenue of $782.43 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $739.91 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.38 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 EPS for the current year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 3rd. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.1%. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 68.97%.

Insider Activity at Lazard

In related news, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 32,475 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.09, for a total transaction of $1,756,572.75. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 183,274 shares in the company, valued at $9,913,290.66. This represents a 15.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.95, for a total value of $2,847,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 227,915 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,979,759.25. The trade was a 17.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 108,092 shares of company stock worth $6,030,986 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 2.26% of the company’s stock.

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.