State Street Corp Increases Position in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

State Street Corp boosted its position in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,948,167 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 55,469 shares during the period. State Street Corp’s holdings in Lazard were worth $98,149,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Continuum Advisory LLC boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 330 shares during the last quarter. Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd lifted its position in Lazard by 3.3% during the second quarter. Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd now owns 18,392 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $702,000 after buying an additional 589 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in Lazard by 12.2% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 5,413 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $273,000 after buying an additional 589 shares during the last quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc. grew its holdings in Lazard by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc. now owns 18,646 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $939,000 after buying an additional 624 shares during the period. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of Lazard by 1,125.0% during the 2nd quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 735 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 675 shares during the last quarter. 54.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Lazard Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of Lazard stock opened at $53.00 on Monday. Lazard, Inc. has a twelve month low of $33.65 and a twelve month high of $61.14. The stock has a market cap of $5.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.12 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a current ratio of 2.24, a quick ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $54.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $47.92.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The asset manager reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 prior year, the firm earned $0.10 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Lazard, Inc. will post 2.18 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 79.68%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Lazard from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $60.00 to $63.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Lazard from $59.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. JMP Securities upped their price objective on Lazard from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com cut Lazard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on Lazard in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $51.00 price target for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.43.

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.