Impact Partnership Wealth LLC Makes New Investment in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Impact Partnership Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 5,302 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $267,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in LAZ. Janus Henderson Group PLC acquired a new stake in Lazard in the first quarter worth about $65,650,000. Claro Advisors LLC lifted its holdings 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. Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Lazard during the first quarter worth about $15,768,000. TD Asset Management Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Lazard during the second quarter worth about $7,102,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in shares of Lazard by 169.0% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 262,003 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $10,970,000 after purchasing an additional 164,591 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Lazard Stock Down 0.5 %

Lazard stock opened at $50.88 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.74 billion, a PE ratio of -145.37 and a beta of 1.39. Lazard, Inc. has a 12 month low of $25.82 and a 12 month high of $54.72. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $49.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $43.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.60, a current ratio of 1.94 and a quick ratio of 1.94.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The asset manager reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $685.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $625.40 million. Lazard had a return on equity of 41.78% and a net margin of 5.50%. The business’s revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.24 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Lazard, Inc. will post 2.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on LAZ. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Lazard from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. StockNews.com raised Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $56.00 target price (up previously from $49.00) on shares of Lazard in a report on Friday, July 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Lazard from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, JMP Securities lifted their price target on Lazard from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Lazard has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $51.14.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 87,770 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.08, for a total value of $4,219,981.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 1,553,225 shares in the company, valued at $74,679,058. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 86,728 shares of Lazard stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.02, for a total value of $4,338,134.56. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 1,640,995 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $82,082,569.90. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 87,770 shares of Lazard stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.08, for a total value of $4,219,981.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 1,553,225 shares in the company, valued at $74,679,058. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 176,497 shares of company stock worth $8,658,086 over the last three months. 3.86% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Lazard

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.