Victory Capital Management Inc. Decreases Holdings in Lazard, Inc. $LAZ

Victory Capital Management Inc. decreased its position in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 1.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,889,534 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 24,957 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned 1.68% of Lazard worth $99,730,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted 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 worth $544,000 after acquiring an additional 7,144 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in Lazard by 27.5% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 759,867 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $32,902,000 after purchasing an additional 163,983 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its position in 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 buying an additional 18,444 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Lazard by 5.2% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 302,439 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $14,511,000 after buying an additional 14,865 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Keybank National Association OH grew its stake in shares of Lazard by 7.8% during the second quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 9,600 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $461,000 after buying an additional 694 shares during the last quarter. 54.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on LAZ shares. Zacks Research lowered Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Citigroup reiterated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Lazard in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Lazard from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $59.00 target price on shares of Lazard in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Lazard in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Lazard has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $57.13.

Lazard Stock Performance

Shares of LAZ stock opened at $48.38 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $51.99 and a 200 day moving average of $51.90. Lazard, Inc. has a 52 week low of $31.97 and a 52 week high of $58.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.19, a PEG ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a quick ratio of 2.28, a current ratio of 2.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The asset manager reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.12. Lazard had a net margin of 7.49% and a return on equity of 33.04%. The business had revenue of $892.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $876.32 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.78 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 20th. Investors of record on Monday, February 9th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 9th. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 91.74%.

About Lazard

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.