Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $113.36 Million Stock Holdings in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,250,049 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 206,295 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 2.00% of Lazard worth $113,357,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Richardson Financial Services Inc. raised its stake in Lazard by 1,125.0% in the second quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 735 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 675 shares during the period. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Lazard in the 3rd quarter valued at $50,000. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in Lazard during the 2nd quarter valued at $87,000. LWM Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in Lazard during the second quarter worth $88,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Lazard during the second quarter worth $150,000. Institutional investors own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Lazard from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $60.00 to $63.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Lazard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded Lazard from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $65.00 to $57.00 in a research report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on Lazard in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $51.00 target price on the stock. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Lazard from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $52.29.

Lazard Price Performance

Lazard stock opened at $52.04 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $5.87 billion, a PE ratio of 20.73 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72, a current ratio of 2.24 and a quick ratio of 2.24. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $54.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $48.21. Lazard, Inc. has a one year low of $34.25 and a one year high of $61.14.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The asset manager reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by ($0.03). Lazard had a return on equity of 42.20% and a net margin of 8.28%. The company had revenue of $646.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $644.22 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.10 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Lazard, Inc. will post 2.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 79.68%.

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.