Bank of New York Mellon Corp Sells 2,524 Shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp trimmed its position in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 0.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 676,093 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 2,524 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned approximately 0.60% of Lazard worth $29,275,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. purchased a new position in Lazard in the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 344 shares during the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC raised its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 525 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. purchased a new position in Lazard in the 1st quarter worth approximately $50,000. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 773 shares during the last quarter. 54.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Lazard Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of Lazard stock opened at $52.59 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $46.10 and a 200 day moving average of $46.16. Lazard, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $31.97 and a fifty-two week high of $61.14. The company has a market capitalization of $5.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.32 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.60, a quick ratio of 3.24 and a current ratio of 3.24.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The asset manager reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.27. The business had revenue of $669.16 million during 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 business’s revenue was down 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.66 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 5th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 5th. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio is 69.69%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Lazard from $46.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Lazard from $33.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Lazard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. JMP Securities set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Lazard and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Lazard from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.00.

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.