Strategic Financial Concepts LLC Buys New Position in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 10,296 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $530,000.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Lazard by 2.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,948,167 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $98,149,000 after purchasing an additional 55,469 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Lazard by 2.2% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,772,237 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $89,285,000 after purchasing an additional 37,681 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Lazard by 348.9% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 17,604 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $887,000 after purchasing an additional 13,682 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Lazard by 5,770.1% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,064,431 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $53,626,000 after purchasing an additional 1,046,298 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Glenmede Trust Co. NA purchased a new position in Lazard during the third quarter valued at approximately $487,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lazard

In other news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.32, for a total value of $1,383,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 163,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,041,943.36. This represents a 13.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 3.14% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on LAZ. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Lazard from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Lazard from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. JMP Securities upped their target price on shares of Lazard from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Lazard from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Lazard from $51.00 to $44.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $55.33.

Lazard Price Performance

LAZ stock opened at $53.95 on Thursday. Lazard, Inc. has a 52 week low of $35.56 and a 52 week high of $61.14. The company has a quick ratio of 2.24, a current ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $52.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $51.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.28 and a beta of 1.41.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.09. Lazard had a net margin of 8.98% and a return on equity of 44.58%. Analysts anticipate that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.71%. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 75.19%.

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.