Teacher Retirement System of Texas Has $1.74 Million Stock Holdings in Lazard, Inc. $LAZ

Teacher Retirement System of Texas lowered its position in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 16.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 36,354 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 7,251 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Lazard were worth $1,744,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Calton & Associates Inc. bought a new position in Lazard in the first quarter valued at $28,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Lazard by 57.2% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 918 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 334 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Lazard by 170.8% during the 2nd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,771 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $85,000 after buying an additional 1,117 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Lazard by 72.7% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,007 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $87,000 after acquiring an additional 845 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HM Payson & Co. grew its holdings 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 valued at $89,000 after acquiring an additional 1,843 shares in the last quarter. 54.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Lazard in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Lazard from $47.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 8th. JMP Securities set a $60.00 target price on shares of Lazard and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. 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 report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of Lazard from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.00.

Lazard Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE LAZ opened at $48.34 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.58, a quick ratio of 2.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.92. The company has a market capitalization of $5.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.11 and a beta of 1.37. Lazard, Inc. has a 12 month low of $31.97 and a 12 month high of $61.14. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $52.80 and a 200-day moving average of $49.18.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The asset manager reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.17. Lazard had a return on equity of 35.02% and a net margin of 8.89%.The business had revenue of $782.43 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $739.91 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.38 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 EPS for the current year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 3rd. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 79.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.95, for a total value of $2,847,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 227,915 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,979,759.25. This represents a 17.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Michael Gathy sold 617 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.37, for a total transaction of $34,163.29. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 108,092 shares of company stock valued at $6,030,986. Company insiders own 3.86% of the company’s stock.

About Lazard

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.