Janus Henderson Group PLC Raises Stake in Lazard, Inc. $LAZ

Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 3.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,431,358 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 48,607 shares during the quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC owned approximately 1.28% of Lazard worth $60,806,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Lazard by 131.8% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 12,563 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $544,000 after purchasing an additional 7,144 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Lazard by 27.5% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 759,867 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $32,902,000 after buying an additional 163,983 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its stake in shares of Lazard by 8.4% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 238,288 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $10,318,000 after purchasing an additional 18,444 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in Lazard by 167.0% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 26,097 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,252,000 after buying an additional 16,322 shares during the period. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Lazard by 62.4% in the second quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 7,102 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $369,000 after acquiring an additional 2,730 shares in the last quarter. 54.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LAZ has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Argus cut their price target on shares of Lazard from $63.00 to $52.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Weiss Ratings lowered Lazard from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “sell” rating on shares of Lazard in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on Lazard from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Citizens Jmp decreased their price objective on shares of Lazard from $65.00 to $60.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Lazard currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $50.38.

Lazard Trading Up 1.1%

Lazard stock opened at $42.41 on Friday. Lazard, Inc. has a 52 week low of $38.67 and a 52 week high of $58.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 3.51 and a current ratio of 2.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.79, a P/E/G ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $43.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $46.47.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.12 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.34 by ($0.22). The business had revenue of $786.47 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $736.29 million. Lazard had a net margin of 6.95% and a return on equity of 23.58%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.52 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Lazard, Inc. will post 2.18 EPS for the current year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 3rd will be paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 3rd. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.7%. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio is 98.04%.

Lazard Company Profile

Lazard Ltd. (NYSE: LAZ) is a leading global financial advisory and asset management firm, offering a comprehensive suite of services to corporations, governments and individuals. Founded in 1848, Lazard has built a reputation for providing independent advice and innovative solutions in complex financial transactions. The firm is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol LAZ and maintains its headquarters in Hamilton, Bermuda.

In its Financial Advisory segment, Lazard assists clients with mergers and acquisitions, restructurings, capital structure optimization and strategic planning.