Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey Grows Stock Holdings in Lazard, Inc. $LAZ

Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey raised its holdings in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 42,482 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 2,032 shares during the quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey’s holdings in Lazard were worth $2,038,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Lazard by 57.2% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 918 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 334 shares in the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. purchased a new position in Lazard in the second quarter worth about $49,000. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its stake in Lazard by 170.8% during the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,771 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $85,000 after acquiring an additional 1,117 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in Lazard by 72.7% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,007 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $87,000 after purchasing an additional 845 shares during the period. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Lazard by 12.5% in the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 2,259 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $98,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares during the last quarter. 54.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on LAZ shares. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on Lazard in a report on Friday, October 3rd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $56.00 target price for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of Lazard from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Lazard from $47.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Lazard from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Lazard in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lazard

In related news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 227,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,979,759.25. This trade represents a 17.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Michael Gathy sold 617 shares of Lazard stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.37, for a total transaction of $34,163.29. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 108,092 shares of company stock worth $6,030,986. 3.86% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Lazard Trading Up 0.6%

NYSE:LAZ opened at $46.87 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.53 and a beta of 1.38. Lazard, Inc. has a 52 week low of $31.97 and a 52 week high of $60.13. The company has a quick ratio of 2.53, a current ratio of 2.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.92. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $51.09 and a 200 day moving average of $50.04.

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

Lazard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 3rd were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 3rd. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio is currently 79.05%.

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.