Raymond James Financial Inc. Has $3.65 Million Stake in Lazard, Inc. $LAZ

Raymond James Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 89.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 84,315 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 39,926 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned approximately 0.07% of Lazard worth $3,651,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of LAZ. Calton & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Lazard in the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. Bessemer Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Lazard in the 1st quarter worth approximately $50,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted 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 buying an additional 773 shares during the last quarter. HM Payson & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Lazard by 861.2% in the 1st quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 2,057 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $89,000 after buying an additional 1,843 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Lazard by 12.5% in the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 2,259 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $98,000 after buying an additional 251 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on LAZ shares. JMP Securities set a $60.00 target price on Lazard and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Lazard from $38.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Citigroup restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Lazard in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Lazard from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $60.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Monday, August 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Lazard from $33.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $52.33.

Lazard Price Performance

Lazard stock opened at $56.39 on Friday. Lazard, Inc. has a 12 month low of $31.97 and a 12 month high of $61.14. 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 business’s 50 day simple moving average is $53.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $46.69. The company has a market cap of $6.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.44 and a beta of 1.35.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.14. The firm 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.52 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 EPS for the current year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.5%. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio 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.