Vanguard Group Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Vanguard Group Inc. decreased its position in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 1.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,658,164 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 130,348 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 0.09% of Lazard worth $461,499,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Lazard in the first quarter valued at approximately $251,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Lazard by 9.7% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 287,574 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $12,452,000 after acquiring an additional 25,480 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Lazard by 10.0% during the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 5,089 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $220,000 after acquiring an additional 461 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. raised its holdings in Lazard by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 14,549 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $630,000 after acquiring an additional 375 shares during the period. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its holdings in Lazard by 5.7% during the 1st quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 166,415 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $7,205,000 after acquiring an additional 9,000 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. JMP Securities set a $60.00 target price on shares of Lazard and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Lazard from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Citigroup reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Lazard in a report on Monday, July 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Lazard from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Lazard from $38.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.50.

Lazard Trading Down 2.4%

Lazard stock opened at $54.01 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $6.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.62 and a beta of 1.35. Lazard, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $31.97 and a fifty-two week high of $61.14. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $50.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $46.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 2.53 and a current ratio of 2.53.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $796.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $674.13 million. Lazard had a net margin of 9.96% and a return on equity of 34.33%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.52 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.7%. Lazard’s payout ratio is 68.97%.

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.