Barclays PLC Sells 91,126 Shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Barclays PLC reduced its stake in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 31.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 194,608 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 91,126 shares during the quarter. Barclays PLC’s holdings in Lazard were worth $9,804,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Richardson Financial Services Inc. grew its position 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 purchasing an additional 675 shares during the last quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC boosted its stake in Lazard by 58.9% in the 2nd quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 890 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 330 shares during the period. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Lazard in the 3rd quarter valued at $50,000. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new position in Lazard during the 2nd quarter worth $87,000. Finally, LWM Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Lazard during the second quarter worth $88,000. 54.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Lazard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Lazard from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Lazard from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $60.00 to $63.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. JMP Securities increased their price target on Lazard from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on Lazard in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $51.00 price objective on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.43.

Lazard Stock Up 0.7 %

NYSE LAZ opened at $53.36 on Tuesday. Lazard, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $34.25 and a fifty-two week high of $61.14. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $54.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $47.92. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $6.02 billion, a PE ratio of 21.26 and a beta of 1.38.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last released its quarterly earnings data 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). The business had revenue of $646.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $644.22 million. Lazard had a net margin of 8.28% and a return on equity of 42.20%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 21.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.10 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Lazard, Inc. will post 2.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 79.68%.

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.