Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) Shares Bought by Envestnet Asset Management Inc.

Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 9.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 287,574 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 25,480 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. owned about 0.26% of Lazard worth $12,452,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Lazard during the 1st quarter valued at about $251,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new position in Lazard during the fourth quarter worth approximately $947,000. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Lazard by 10.0% in the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 5,089 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $220,000 after purchasing an additional 461 shares in the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its position in Lazard by 5.7% during the 1st quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 166,415 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $7,205,000 after purchasing an additional 9,000 shares during the period. Finally, Ranger Investment Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Lazard during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $18,372,000. 54.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on LAZ shares. Citigroup reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Lazard in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Lazard from $46.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. JMP Securities set a $60.00 price objective on Lazard and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Lazard from $33.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Lazard from $38.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $51.00.

Lazard Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE LAZ opened at $54.31 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $46.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $46.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.92 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 52-week low of $31.97 and a 52-week high of $61.14.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The asset manager reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.27. The firm had revenue of $669.16 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $698.39 million. Lazard had a return on equity of 37.64% and a net margin of 10.15%. Lazard’s quarterly revenue was down 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.66 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Investors of record on Monday, May 5th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 5th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.68%. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.