Lazard, Inc. $LAZ Shares Acquired by Ariel Investments LLC

Ariel Investments LLC increased its holdings in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 2.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,753,997 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 134,717 shares during the quarter. Lazard makes up about 3.1% of Ariel Investments LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Ariel Investments LLC owned 5.10% of Lazard worth $276,077,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of LAZ. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Lazard by 2,324.4% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,099,179 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $264,096,000 after purchasing an additional 5,847,608 shares during the last quarter. Amundi boosted its stake in shares of Lazard by 141.6% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 2,263,046 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $97,990,000 after buying an additional 1,326,370 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Lazard by 9.3% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,108,229 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $101,153,000 after buying an additional 180,244 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in Lazard by 31.6% in the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,690,943 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $73,214,000 after acquiring an additional 406,232 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Lazard during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $66,547,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LAZ has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on Lazard from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 24th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Lazard in a research report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $46.00 price objective on shares of Lazard and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on shares of Lazard in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $56.00 target price for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Lazard from $47.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lazard presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $55.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lazard

In other news, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 32,475 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.09, for a total value of $1,756,572.75. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 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 value of $2,847,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 227,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,979,759.25. This trade represents a 17.99% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 2.26% of the company’s stock.

Lazard Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of NYSE LAZ opened at $51.34 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.29 and a beta of 1.40. Lazard, Inc. has a 52 week low of $31.97 and a 52 week high of $58.07. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $49.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $50.76. The company has a quick ratio of 2.58, a current ratio of 2.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.92.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The asset manager reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.17. Lazard had a net margin of 8.89% and a return on equity of 35.02%. The company had revenue of $770.76 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $739.91 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.38 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 3rd were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 3rd. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 79.05%.

Lazard 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.