Lazard, Inc. $LAZ Shares Acquired by Geneos Wealth Management Inc.

Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 72.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,007 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 845 shares during the quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Lazard were worth $87,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Lazard by 2,324.4% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,099,179 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $264,096,000 after acquiring an additional 5,847,608 shares during the period. Amundi boosted its stake in Lazard by 141.6% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 2,263,046 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $97,990,000 after purchasing an additional 1,326,370 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Lazard by 42.2% during the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,644,323 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $71,199,000 after purchasing an additional 487,574 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in Lazard by 31.6% during the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,690,943 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $73,214,000 after purchasing an additional 406,232 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lazard during the first quarter worth approximately $10,998,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Lazard Stock Up 2.4%

Lazard stock opened at $55.62 on Thursday. Lazard, Inc. has a 1-year low of $31.97 and a 1-year high of $61.14. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $54.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $47.03. 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 $6.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.18 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 for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $796.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $674.13 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.52 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 16.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

LAZ has been the subject of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Lazard from $47.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. JMP Securities set a $60.00 price target on Lazard and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Citigroup reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Lazard in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Lazard from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $60.00 to $65.00 in a report on Monday, August 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Lazard from $38.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lazard currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $55.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 32,475 shares of Lazard stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.09, for a total value of $1,756,572.75. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 183,274 shares in the company, valued at $9,913,290.66. This trade represents a 15.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 50,000 shares of Lazard stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.95, for a total transaction of $2,847,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 227,915 shares in the company, valued at $12,979,759.25. This trade represents a 17.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 108,092 shares of company stock valued at $6,030,986 over the last 90 days. 3.86% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.