Lecap Asset Management Ltd. Acquires 2,223 Shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Lecap Asset Management Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 16.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 15,906 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 2,223 shares during the period. Lecap Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in Lazard were worth $819,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Gilman Hill Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Lazard by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Gilman Hill Asset Management LLC now owns 9,790 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $504,000 after acquiring an additional 240 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Lazard by 12.2% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 5,413 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $273,000 after purchasing an additional 589 shares during the last quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc. boosted its position in Lazard by 3.5% during the third quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc. now owns 18,646 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $939,000 after purchasing an additional 624 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its stake in Lazard by 1.8% in the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 40,425 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,028,000 after purchasing an additional 728 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its holdings in Lazard by 12.2% in the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 6,672 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $343,000 after purchasing an additional 728 shares in the last quarter. 54.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on LAZ shares. JMP Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Lazard from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Lazard from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com upgraded Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Wolfe Research downgraded Lazard from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Lazard from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $55.33.

Lazard Price Performance

NYSE LAZ opened at $53.24 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $6.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.02 and a beta of 1.41. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average price is $52.43 and its 200 day moving average price is $51.11. Lazard, Inc. has a 1 year low of $35.56 and a 1 year high of $61.14.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.09. Lazard had a return on equity of 44.58% and a net margin of 8.98%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Lazard, Inc. will post 3.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.76%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 75.19%.

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.