Natixis Grows Stake in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Natixis lifted its stake in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 20.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 54,000 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,000 shares during the period. Natixis’ holdings in Lazard were worth $2,261,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Lazard by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,678,365 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $447,103,000 after acquiring an additional 152,857 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Lazard by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,844,038 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $98,973,000 after acquiring an additional 18,233 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Lazard by 943.5% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,963,865 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $82,227,000 after acquiring an additional 1,775,664 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Lazard during the 4th quarter worth $47,063,000. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its stake in Lazard by 150.3% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 531,900 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $18,509,000 after purchasing an additional 319,384 shares during the last quarter. 54.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on LAZ. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Lazard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $49.00 price target (down from $51.00) on shares of Lazard in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Lazard from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lazard has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $45.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 6,762 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.00, for a total value of $270,480.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 1,982,829 shares in the company, valued at $79,313,160. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 6,762 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.00, for a total value of $270,480.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 1,982,829 shares in the company, valued at $79,313,160. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 46,107 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.19, for a total transaction of $1,853,040.33. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 1,936,722 shares in the company, valued at approximately $77,836,857.18. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 414,000 shares of company stock worth $17,683,738. 3.86% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Lazard Stock Up 11.9 %

LAZ traded up $5.17 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $48.48. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,274,736 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,077,126. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -134.17 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a current ratio of 1.89, a quick ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.13. Lazard, Inc. has a 1 year low of $25.82 and a 1 year high of $48.64. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $39.96 and its 200-day moving average is $39.42.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The asset manager reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $765.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $678.57 million. Lazard had a negative net margin of 0.63% and a positive return on equity of 37.27%. The business’s revenue was up 41.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.26) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Lazard, Inc. will post 2.73 EPS for the current year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 5th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.13%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 5th. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -571.41%.

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.