Manning & Napier Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Lazard, Inc. $LAZ

Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 30,000 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $1,274,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. UBS Group AG raised its position in shares of Lazard by 97.6% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 332,333 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $16,138,000 after buying an additional 164,168 shares during the period. Penn Capital Management Company LLC grew its position in Lazard by 18.6% in the third quarter. Penn Capital Management Company LLC now owns 274,807 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $14,541,000 after acquiring an additional 43,083 shares during the period. Algebris UK Ltd. acquired a new stake in Lazard during the fourth quarter worth $24,424,000. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. purchased a new stake in Lazard in the fourth quarter valued at $1,136,000. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in Lazard by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,760,637 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $85,497,000 after purchasing an additional 38,133 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Lazard Stock Performance

Shares of Lazard stock opened at $41.48 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.94, a current ratio of 3.51 and a quick ratio of 3.51. The business has a 50-day moving average of $44.86 and a 200 day moving average of $47.19. Lazard, Inc. has a 12 month low of $38.67 and a 12 month high of $58.75.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 1st. The asset manager reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by ($0.10). The business had revenue of $672.98 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $707.42 million. Lazard had a return on equity of 29.30% and a net margin of 8.47%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.56 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Lazard, Inc. will post 2.78 earnings per share for the current year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, May 11th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 11th. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 79.05%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on LAZ. Argus lowered their price target on Lazard from $63.00 to $52.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Lazard from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Citigroup reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Lazard in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Lazard from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $44.00 price target on shares of Lazard in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.00.

Lazard Profile

Lazard Ltd. (NYSE: LAZ) is a leading global financial advisory and asset management firm, offering a comprehensive suite of services to corporations, governments and individuals. Founded in 1848, Lazard has built a reputation for providing independent advice and innovative solutions in complex financial transactions. The firm is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol LAZ and maintains its headquarters in Hamilton, Bermuda.

In its Financial Advisory segment, Lazard assists clients with mergers and acquisitions, restructurings, capital structure optimization and strategic planning.