Vanguard Group Inc. Acquires 42,455 Shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,519,785 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 42,455 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 9.33% of Lazard worth $326,219,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LAZ. CENTRAL TRUST Co raised its holdings in Lazard by 88.7% in the 3rd quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 800 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 376 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Lazard in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lazard in the 1st quarter worth approximately $48,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its holdings in shares of Lazard by 489.4% in the 3rd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,727 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $55,000 after buying an additional 1,434 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lazard in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $60,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Lazard

In other news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.35, for a total value of $2,951,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 227,448 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,950,078.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 3.19% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Lazard Trading Up 3.3 %

LAZ stock opened at $41.38 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -42.66 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.51, a current ratio of 1.62 and a quick ratio of 1.62. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $39.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $34.15. Lazard, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $25.82 and a fifty-two week high of $42.15.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The asset manager reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $825.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $666.56 million. Lazard had a positive return on equity of 16.43% and a negative net margin of 2.93%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.69 EPS. Analysts expect that Lazard, Inc. will post 3.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 12th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.83%. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio is currently -206.18%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LAZ has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group increased their target price on Lazard from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. StockNews.com raised Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Lazard from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $51.00 price target on shares of Lazard in a report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, TheStreet raised Lazard from a “d+” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.83.

Lazard Company 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.