MML Investors Services LLC Makes New Investment in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

MML Investors Services LLC bought a new position in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 5,867 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $296,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of LAZ. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC increased its holdings in Lazard by 7.6% in the third quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 28,142 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,418,000 after buying an additional 1,987 shares during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Lazard in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,399,000. Castleark Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lazard in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $5,634,000. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Lazard by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,948,167 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $98,149,000 after acquiring an additional 55,469 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Redwood Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Lazard by 4.3% during the third quarter. Redwood Investment Management LLC now owns 38,160 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,924,000 after purchasing an additional 1,572 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Lazard Stock Performance

Shares of LAZ stock opened at $51.92 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $54.58 and a 200 day simple moving average of $48.53. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $5.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.69 and a beta of 1.38. Lazard, Inc. has a 12-month low of $34.25 and a 12-month high of $61.14.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 8.28% and a return on equity of 42.20%. The business had revenue of $646.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $644.22 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.10 earnings per share. Lazard’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Lazard, Inc. will post 2.18 EPS for the current year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.85%. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 79.68%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LAZ has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Lazard from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $60.00 to $63.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of Lazard in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $51.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded Lazard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut Lazard from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $65.00 to $57.00 in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Lazard from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. One 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $52.29.

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.