Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Buys 375 Shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 2.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 14,549 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 375 shares during the quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Lazard were worth $630,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lazard during the first quarter worth $251,000. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Lazard by 10.0% during the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 5,089 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $220,000 after acquiring an additional 461 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Lazard by 9.7% during the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 287,574 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $12,452,000 after acquiring an additional 25,480 shares during the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its position in shares of Lazard by 5.7% during the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 166,415 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $7,205,000 after acquiring an additional 9,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ranger Investment Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Lazard during the fourth quarter worth $18,372,000. Institutional investors own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on LAZ. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Lazard from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Wall Street Zen cut Lazard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Lazard from $33.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. 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. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Lazard from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $51.50.

Lazard Price Performance

Lazard stock opened at $51.17 on Tuesday. Lazard, Inc. has a 12 month low of $31.97 and a 12 month high of $61.14. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $48.20 and its 200-day moving average is $46.44. The company has a current ratio of 2.53, a quick ratio of 2.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15. The company has a market capitalization of $5.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.64 and a beta of 1.35.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $796.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $674.13 million. Lazard had a return on equity of 34.33% and a net margin of 9.96%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.52 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 EPS for the current year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 4th. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.97%.

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.