Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) Position Increased by Comerica Bank

Comerica Bank increased its stake in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 4.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,176 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 538 shares during the period. Comerica Bank’s holdings in Lazard were worth $627,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Lazard by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 26,169 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,347,000 after purchasing an additional 196 shares during the last quarter. Gilman Hill Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Lazard by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Gilman Hill Asset Management LLC now owns 9,790 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $504,000 after acquiring an additional 240 shares in the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina raised its stake in Lazard by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 48,129 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,478,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc. raised its stake in Lazard by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc. now owns 18,981 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $977,000 after acquiring an additional 335 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its stake in Lazard by 54.3% during the 4th quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 977 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 344 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on LAZ. StockNews.com downgraded Lazard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Morgan Stanley downgraded Lazard from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their target price for the company from $56.00 to $33.00 in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Lazard from $44.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Lazard from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Lazard in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Lazard has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $45.00.

Lazard Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE LAZ opened at $46.25 on Thursday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $5.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.39 and a beta of 1.28. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $48.83. Lazard, Inc. has a 52-week low of $31.97 and a 52-week high of $61.14.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last issued its earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The asset manager reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.27. The business had revenue of $669.16 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $698.39 million. Lazard had a return on equity of 44.58% and a net margin of 8.98%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.66 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 16th. Investors of record on Monday, May 5th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 5th. Lazard’s payout ratio is 69.69%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.32, for a total value of $1,383,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 163,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,041,943.36. This trade represents a 13.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 64,539 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.24, for a total value of $2,919,744.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 234,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,623,437.76. This trade represents a 21.56% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 154,078 shares of company stock worth $7,243,141 in the last three months. 3.86% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.