Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Increases Stake in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its stake in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 3.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 25,944 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 849 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Lazard were worth $1,307,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in LAZ. Janus Henderson Group PLC purchased a new stake in Lazard during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $65,650,000. Claro Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Lazard by 10,306.7% during the 3rd quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 1,235,793 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $62,259,000 after buying an additional 1,223,918 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Lazard by 5,770.1% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,064,431 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $53,626,000 after buying an additional 1,046,298 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Lazard by 10.1% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc purchased a new stake in Lazard during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $7,102,000. 54.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Lazard Stock Down 0.0 %

NYSE:LAZ opened at $54.98 on Tuesday. Lazard, Inc. has a twelve month low of $26.25 and a twelve month high of $61.14. The company has a market cap of $6.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.91 and a beta of 1.38. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $51.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $45.66. The company has a current ratio of 2.24, a quick ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The asset manager reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.41 by ($0.03). Lazard had a return on equity of 42.20% and a net margin of 8.28%. The business had revenue of $646.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $644.22 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.10 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Lazard, Inc. will post 2.31 EPS for the current year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.64%. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio is currently 79.68%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Lazard from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. JMP Securities increased their target price on Lazard from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on Lazard in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $51.00 target price for the company. UBS Group increased their target price on Lazard from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Lazard from $59.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Lazard presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.00.

Insider Activity at Lazard

In related news, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 87,770 shares of Lazard stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.08, for a total value of $4,219,981.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 1,553,225 shares in the company, valued at $74,679,058. The trade was a 5.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders sold 176,497 shares of company stock worth $8,658,086 over the last three months. 3.86% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.