International Assets Investment Management LLC Purchases 162,549 Shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 1,165.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 176,491 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 162,549 shares during the quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Lazard were worth $6,142,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its position in shares of Lazard by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 57,464 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,992,000 after purchasing an additional 291 shares during the period. CENTRAL TRUST Co boosted its position in shares of Lazard by 88.7% during the third quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 800 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 376 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Lazard by 26.4% during the second quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 2,167 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 453 shares during the last quarter. Mariner LLC boosted its position in shares of Lazard by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 14,853 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $515,000 after acquiring an additional 469 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Lazard by 19.1% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,431 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $119,000 after acquiring an additional 550 shares during the last quarter. 54.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Lazard from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Lazard from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $58.00 price objective on shares of Lazard in a research report on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $51.00 price objective on shares of Lazard in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, TheStreet upgraded shares of Lazard from a “d+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were 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 owns 227,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,950,078.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 3.86% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Lazard Trading Down 3.2 %

Shares of LAZ opened at $38.37 on Monday. Lazard, Inc. has a twelve month low of $25.82 and a twelve month high of $42.24. The company has a market cap of $4.33 billion, a P/E ratio of -39.56 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.51. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $39.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $34.84.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The asset manager reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.31. Lazard had a negative net margin of 2.93% and a positive return on equity of 16.43%. The business had revenue of $825.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $666.56 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.69 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Lazard, Inc. will post 3.22 EPS for the current year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 12th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio is currently -206.19%.

About Lazard

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.