Teacher Retirement System of Texas Has $3.13 Million Stake in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its position in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 268.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 60,716 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 44,258 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Lazard were worth $3,126,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in Lazard in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lazard in the fourth quarter worth $46,000. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new position in Lazard during the fourth quarter worth $53,000. AlphaQuest LLC increased its stake in Lazard by 85.8% in the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 1,137 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $59,000 after buying an additional 525 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in Lazard during the 4th quarter worth about $60,000. 54.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on LAZ. UBS Group raised their price objective on Lazard from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com raised Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Lazard from $51.00 to $44.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Lazard from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Lazard from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $54.17.

Lazard Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LAZ opened at $46.80 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $50.42 and its 200-day moving average is $51.66. The firm has a market cap of $5.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.59 and a beta of 1.41. Lazard, Inc. has a 1-year low of $35.56 and a 1-year high of $61.14. The company has a current ratio of 2.24, a quick ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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%. Equities research analysts predict that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 4.27%. Lazard’s payout ratio is 75.19%.

Insider Transactions at Lazard

In other Lazard news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.32, for a total transaction of $1,383,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 163,448 shares in the company, valued at $9,041,943.36. The trade was a 13.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 64,539 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.56, for a total value of $2,940,396.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 170,285 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,758,184.60. This trade represents a 27.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 189,078 shares of company stock valued at $9,120,541. 3.86% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.