Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. Boosts Stake in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. increased its position in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 2.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 411,655 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 8,702 shares during the quarter. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C.’s holdings in Lazard were worth $20,739,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Continuum Advisory LLC grew its position in shares of Lazard by 58.9% during the second quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 890 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 330 shares during the last quarter. Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd boosted its stake in Lazard by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd now owns 18,392 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $702,000 after purchasing an additional 589 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake 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 during the period. Great Lakes Retirement Inc. increased its stake in Lazard by 3.5% in the third quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc. now owns 18,646 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $939,000 after purchasing an additional 624 shares during the period. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Lazard by 1,125.0% in the second quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 735 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 675 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Lazard Stock Performance

NYSE:LAZ opened at $58.07 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $53.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $46.92. 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 stock has a market cap of $6.55 billion, a PE ratio of 23.14 and a beta of 1.38. Lazard, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $29.28 and a fifty-two week high of $61.14.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The asset manager reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.41 by ($0.03). Lazard had a return on equity of 42.20% and a net margin of 8.28%. The company had revenue of $646.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $644.22 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.10 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 21.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Lazard, Inc. will post 2.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Lazard’s payout ratio is currently 79.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Lazard news, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 87,770 shares of Lazard stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.08, for a total transaction of $4,219,981.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 1,553,225 shares in the company, valued at approximately $74,679,058. The trade was a 5.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 3.86% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group boosted their price target on Lazard from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on Lazard in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $51.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com lowered shares of Lazard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. JMP Securities upped their price objective on shares of Lazard from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Lazard from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.00.

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.