Great Lakes Advisors LLC Acquires New Position in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Great Lakes Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 6,331 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $326,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Lazard by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,250,049 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $113,357,000 after buying an additional 206,295 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Lazard by 2.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,948,167 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $98,149,000 after acquiring an additional 55,469 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Lazard by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,862,389 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $95,876,000 after purchasing an additional 90,152 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Lazard by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,813,553 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $91,392,000 after purchasing an additional 15,151 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Lazard by 8.7% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,156,749 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $59,549,000 after purchasing an additional 92,318 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.32, for a total transaction of $1,383,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 163,448 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,041,943.36. This represents a 13.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 3.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Lazard Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:LAZ opened at $44.98 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.24, a current ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72. The company has a market capitalization of $5.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.91 and a beta of 1.41. Lazard, Inc. has a 52-week low of $35.56 and a 52-week high of $61.14. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $50.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $51.78.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.09. Lazard had a net margin of 8.98% and a return on equity of 44.58%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.45%. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 75.19%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LAZ has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Lazard from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Lazard from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Wolfe Research downgraded Lazard from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Lazard from $51.00 to $44.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $54.17.

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.