Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) Stake Boosted by Callahan Advisors LLC

Callahan Advisors LLC increased its stake in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 15.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 52,965 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,151 shares during the quarter. Callahan Advisors LLC’s holdings in Lazard were worth $2,727,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of LAZ. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Lazard by 5,770.1% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,064,431 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $53,626,000 after acquiring an additional 1,046,298 shares in the last quarter. Azora Capital LP purchased a new position in Lazard during the 3rd quarter valued at about $13,560,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Lazard by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,250,049 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $113,357,000 after acquiring an additional 206,295 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in Lazard during the 3rd quarter valued at about $8,430,000. Finally, Castleark Management LLC purchased a new position in Lazard during the 3rd quarter valued at about $5,634,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.32, for a total value of $1,383,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 163,448 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,041,943.36. The trade was a 13.27 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 3.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LAZ has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wolfe Research cut Lazard from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Lazard from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on Lazard from $51.00 to $44.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. JMP Securities lifted their price target on Lazard from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Lazard from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.33.

Lazard Stock Up 2.3 %

LAZ opened at $55.23 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $52.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $51.52. Lazard, Inc. has a twelve month low of $35.56 and a twelve month high of $61.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.24 and a current ratio of 2.24. The firm has a market cap of $6.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.76 and a beta of 1.41.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.09. Lazard had a return on equity of 44.58% and a net margin of 8.98%. Research analysts forecast that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 EPS for the current year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.62%. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 75.19%.

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.