Bessemer Group Inc. Acquires New Holdings in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Bessemer Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,150 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $50,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Lazard in the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Lazard in the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Lazard by 54.3% in the 4th quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 977 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 344 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Lazard by 164.1% in the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,244 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 773 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC grew its stake in shares of Lazard by 85.8% in the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 1,137 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 525 shares during the last quarter. 54.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Lazard from $33.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Lazard from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Lazard in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Lazard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Lazard from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Lazard presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.33.

Lazard Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of NYSE LAZ opened at $50.37 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $44.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $46.16. The company has a market cap of $5.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.55 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a quick ratio of 3.24, a current ratio of 3.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.60. Lazard, Inc. has a 12-month low of $31.97 and a 12-month high of $61.14.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The asset manager reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.27. The company had revenue of $669.16 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $698.39 million. Lazard had a net margin of 10.15% and a return on equity of 37.64%. The company’s revenue was down 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.66 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Investors of record on Monday, May 5th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 5th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.97%. Lazard’s payout ratio is 69.69%.

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.