Cetera Investment Advisers Acquires 2,306 Shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Cetera Investment Advisers grew its holdings in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 19.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 14,144 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,306 shares during the quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers’ holdings in Lazard were worth $728,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its holdings in shares of Lazard by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 51,415 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,647,000 after buying an additional 1,652 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Lazard in the 4th quarter valued at about $60,000. KBC Group NV raised its stake in shares of Lazard by 54.1% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,813 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $196,000 after acquiring an additional 1,338 shares during the last quarter. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Lazard by 22.0% during the fourth quarter. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC now owns 89,486 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,607,000 after purchasing an additional 16,121 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB lifted its position in shares of Lazard by 28.7% during the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 207,000 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $10,656,000 after purchasing an additional 46,200 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on LAZ. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Lazard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Lazard from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target 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. Morgan Stanley cut Lazard from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $56.00 to $33.00 in a report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Lazard from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $44.33.

Lazard Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of Lazard stock opened at $42.99 on Monday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $40.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $48.28. The stock has a market cap of $4.85 billion, a PE ratio of 16.16 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 2.24, a current ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72. Lazard, Inc. has a 12 month low of $31.97 and a 12 month 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 firm 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 revenue was down 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.66 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 EPS for the current year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Investors of record on Monday, May 5th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.65%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 5th. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio is currently 69.69%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lazard

In other Lazard news, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 64,539 shares of Lazard stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.24, for a total transaction of $2,919,744.36. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 234,824 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,623,437.76. The trade was a 21.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 3.86% of the company’s stock.

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.