Freemont Management S.A. Grows Holdings in Lazard, Inc. $LAZ

Freemont Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 30.6% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 102,800 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 24,100 shares during the quarter. Freemont Management S.A.’s holdings in Lazard were worth $4,932,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in LAZ. Calton & Associates Inc. bought a new position in Lazard during the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Lazard by 57.2% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 918 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 334 shares during the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Lazard in the 2nd quarter valued at about $49,000. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Lazard by 170.8% during the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,771 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $85,000 after purchasing an additional 1,117 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in Lazard by 72.7% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,007 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $87,000 after purchasing an additional 845 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Lazard Price Performance

Shares of LAZ opened at $50.50 on Friday. Lazard, Inc. has a 12 month low of $31.97 and a 12 month high of $60.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.92, a current ratio of 2.58 and a quick ratio of 2.53. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $52.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $49.39. The company has a market cap of $5.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.96 and a beta of 1.38.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The asset manager reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $782.43 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $739.91 million. Lazard had a return on equity of 35.02% and a net margin of 8.89%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.38 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 3rd. Lazard’s payout ratio is presently 79.05%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on LAZ shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Lazard in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Lazard from $47.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $46.00 price target on Lazard and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. JMP Securities set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Lazard and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of Lazard from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $55.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lazard news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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. This trade represents a 17.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 32,475 shares of Lazard stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.09, for a total value of $1,756,572.75. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 183,274 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,913,290.66. This trade represents a 15.05% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 108,092 shares of company stock worth $6,030,986. Insiders own 2.26% 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.