Lazard, Inc. $LAZ Shares Bought by Quantbot Technologies LP

Quantbot Technologies LP lifted its stake in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 2,942.6% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 42,840 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 41,432 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP’s holdings in Lazard were worth $1,855,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Calton & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Lazard during the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Lazard by 54.3% in the 4th quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 977 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 344 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Lazard in the first quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Lazard by 164.1% during the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,244 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 773 shares during the period. Finally, HM Payson & Co. raised its holdings in Lazard by 861.2% during the first quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 2,057 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $89,000 after purchasing an additional 1,843 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Lazard Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of Lazard stock opened at $53.1730 on Friday. Lazard, Inc. has a 12-month low of $31.97 and a 12-month high of $61.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.00 billion, a PE ratio of 18.34 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a quick ratio of 2.53, a current ratio of 2.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $50.80 and its 200-day moving average is $46.51.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $796.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $674.13 million. Lazard had a return on equity of 34.33% and a net margin of 9.96%.Lazard’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.52 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.97%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on LAZ shares. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Lazard from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Lazard from $38.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Lazard from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. JMP Securities set a $60.00 price target on shares of Lazard and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Lazard from $33.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.50.

About Lazard

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.