Russell Investments Group Ltd. Boosts Holdings in Lazard, Inc. $LAZ

Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 1.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 91,033 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 1,352 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned 0.08% of Lazard worth $3,942,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Calton & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Lazard during the first quarter valued at $28,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Lazard by 54.3% during the fourth quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 977 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 344 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Lazard during the first quarter valued at $50,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Lazard by 164.1% during the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,244 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 773 shares during the period. Finally, TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Lazard by 119.5% during the fourth quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 2,028 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $104,000 after purchasing an additional 1,104 shares during the period. 54.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Lazard Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LAZ opened at $55.7660 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $51.05 and its 200 day moving average price is $46.54. The firm has a market cap of $6.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.23 and a beta of 1.35. Lazard, Inc. has a 52 week low of $31.97 and a 52 week high of $61.14. The company has a quick ratio of 2.53, a current ratio of 2.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15.

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

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.97%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LAZ has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Lazard in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Lazard from $38.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. JMP Securities set a $60.00 price objective on Lazard and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Lazard from $33.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Lazard from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.50.

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.