Great Lakes Retirement Inc. Raises Position in Lazard, Inc. $LAZ

Great Lakes Retirement Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 6.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 22,195 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,288 shares during the quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc.’s holdings in Lazard were worth $1,065,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of LAZ. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Lazard by 11.0% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 6,350 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $275,000 after acquiring an additional 627 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Lazard by 10.0% during the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 5,089 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $220,000 after acquiring an additional 461 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Lazard during the 1st quarter worth $50,000. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in shares of Lazard by 22.8% during the 1st quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,683 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $203,000 after acquiring an additional 870 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DAVENPORT & Co LLC boosted its stake in shares of Lazard by 5.1% during the 1st quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 8,275 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $358,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lazard

In other Lazard news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 50,000 shares of Lazard stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.95, for a total value of $2,847,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 227,915 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,979,759.25. The trade was a 17.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Michael Gathy sold 617 shares of Lazard stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.37, for a total transaction of $34,163.29. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 108,092 shares of company stock worth $6,030,986. Insiders own 3.86% of the company’s stock.

Lazard Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE LAZ opened at $48.94 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 2.53 and a current ratio of 2.58. The company has a market cap of $5.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.35 and a beta of 1.37. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $52.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $48.99. Lazard, Inc. has a 52-week low of $31.97 and a 52-week high of $61.14.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The asset manager reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $782.43 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $739.91 million. Lazard had a net margin of 8.89% and a return on equity of 35.02%. Lazard’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.38 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 3rd will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 3rd. Lazard’s payout ratio is currently 79.05%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on LAZ shares. Zacks Research cut shares of Lazard from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of Lazard from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Lazard from $38.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Lazard in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $46.00 target price on shares of Lazard and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Lazard presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.00.

Lazard 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.