Great Lakes Advisors LLC Buys New Holdings in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Great Lakes Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 6,331 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $326,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of LAZ. Assetmark Inc. increased its position in Lazard by 12.2% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 5,413 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $273,000 after purchasing an additional 589 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its position in shares of Lazard by 3.4% in the third quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 25,944 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,307,000 after acquiring an additional 849 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank raised its stake in shares of Lazard by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 176,100 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $8,872,000 after acquiring an additional 4,100 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Lazard by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,099,191 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $55,377,000 after acquiring an additional 22,425 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Lazard by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,772,237 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $89,285,000 after purchasing an additional 37,681 shares during the period. 54.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Lazard from $63.00 to $56.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Lazard from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Lazard from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Lazard from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $54.17.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 35,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.64, for a total transaction of $1,877,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 188,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,108,350.72. This represents a 15.66 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 3.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Lazard Stock Up 0.1 %

NYSE:LAZ opened at $44.98 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.24 and a current ratio of 2.24. The company has a market capitalization of $5.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.91 and a beta of 1.41. Lazard, Inc. has a one year low of $35.56 and a one year high of $61.14. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $50.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $51.78.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. Sell-side analysts predict that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.45%. Lazard’s payout ratio is 75.19%.

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.