Great Lakes Retirement Inc. Has $977,000 Stock Holdings in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Great Lakes Retirement Inc. lifted its position in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 1.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 18,981 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 335 shares during the period. Great Lakes Retirement Inc.’s holdings in Lazard were worth $977,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Claro Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Lazard by 10,306.7% during the third quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 1,235,793 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $62,259,000 after purchasing an additional 1,223,918 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Lazard by 5,770.1% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,064,431 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $53,626,000 after purchasing an additional 1,046,298 shares during the period. Azora Capital LP bought a new position in shares of Lazard during the third quarter worth approximately $13,560,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Lazard by 10.1% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,250,049 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $113,357,000 after purchasing an additional 206,295 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Lazard during the third quarter worth approximately $8,430,000. Institutional investors own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Lazard Price Performance

Lazard stock opened at $53.56 on Thursday. Lazard, Inc. has a one year low of $35.56 and a one year high of $61.14. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $52.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $51.33. 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 firm has a market cap of $6.04 billion, a PE ratio of 20.14 and a beta of 1.41.

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

Lazard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.73%. Lazard’s payout ratio is 75.19%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on LAZ. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Lazard from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Lazard from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group raised their price objective on Lazard from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered Lazard from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.33.

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.