International Assets Investment Management LLC Has $6.14 Million Position in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 1,165.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 176,491 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 162,549 shares during the quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Lazard were worth $6,142,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Larson Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Lazard in the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Lazard during the third quarter worth about $60,000. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. bought a new position in shares of Lazard in the third quarter worth about $210,000. EMC Capital Management boosted its stake in shares of Lazard by 23.2% in the 3rd quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 7,870 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $244,000 after purchasing an additional 1,484 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lazard during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $320,000. 54.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on LAZ. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $49.00 target price (down previously from $51.00) on shares of Lazard in a research note on Friday, April 26th. TheStreet raised Lazard from a “d+” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $58.00 price target on shares of Lazard in a report on Thursday, April 11th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Lazard from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $45.67.

Insider Activity

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 transaction of $2,951,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 227,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,950,078.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 3.14% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Lazard Stock Performance

Shares of LAZ opened at $38.84 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.89, a quick ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.38 billion, a P/E ratio of -110.97 and a beta of 1.46. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $39.44 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $35.88. Lazard, Inc. has a 12 month low of $25.82 and a 12 month high of $42.24.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The asset manager reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.08. Lazard had a negative net margin of 0.63% and a positive return on equity of 37.27%. The company had revenue of $765.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $678.57 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.26) EPS. The business’s revenue was up 41.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Lazard, Inc. will post 3.05 EPS for the current year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 6th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 3rd. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -571.41%.

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.