Swedbank AB Raises Holdings in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Swedbank AB boosted its stake in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 28.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 207,000 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 46,200 shares during the period. Swedbank AB’s holdings in Lazard were worth $10,656,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of LAZ. Claro Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Lazard by 10,306.7% in the 3rd quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 1,235,793 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $62,259,000 after acquiring an additional 1,223,918 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Lazard by 5,770.1% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,064,431 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $53,626,000 after purchasing an additional 1,046,298 shares during the last quarter. Azora Capital LP bought a new position in Lazard in the third quarter worth about $13,560,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Lazard by 10.1% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,250,049 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $113,357,000 after buying an additional 206,295 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Lazard in the 3rd quarter valued at about $8,430,000. Institutional investors own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LAZ has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. JMP Securities increased their target price on shares of Lazard from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com upgraded Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. UBS Group boosted their target price on Lazard from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Lazard from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Lazard from $51.00 to $44.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Lazard presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $55.00.

Lazard Stock Down 1.2 %

Lazard stock opened at $54.52 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $52.82 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $50.88. 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 company has a market cap of $6.15 billion, a PE ratio of 21.72 and a beta of 1.40. Lazard, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $35.56 and a fifty-two week high of $61.14.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.09. Lazard had a return on equity of 42.20% and a net margin of 8.28%. Equities analysts anticipate that Lazard, Inc. will post 2.06 EPS for the current year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.67%. Lazard’s payout ratio is currently 79.68%.

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.