Mackenzie Financial Corp Decreases Stock Holdings in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Mackenzie Financial Corp lowered its position in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 66.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 76,736 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 149,516 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp owned about 0.07% of Lazard worth $2,670,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Lazard by 25.2% during the fourth quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 140,285 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $4,882,000 after purchasing an additional 28,250 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Lazard by 1,165.9% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 176,491 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,142,000 after buying an additional 162,549 shares during the period. Sweet Financial Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Lazard by 41.7% in the 4th quarter. Sweet Financial Partners LLC now owns 17,000 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $592,000 after buying an additional 5,000 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Lazard by 0.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,519,785 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $326,219,000 after acquiring an additional 42,455 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lifted its stake in Lazard by 1.2% in the third quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 87,700 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,720,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Lazard Price Performance

Shares of LAZ opened at $38.49 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $39.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $35.16. Lazard, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $25.82 and a fifty-two week high of $42.24. The stock has a market cap of $4.34 billion, a PE ratio of -39.67 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.51, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a current ratio of 1.62.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The asset manager reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.31. The company had revenue of $825.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $666.56 million. Lazard had a positive return on equity of 16.43% and a negative net margin of 2.93%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.69 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Lazard, Inc. will post 3.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 12th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.20%. Lazard’s payout ratio is presently -206.18%.

Insider Transactions at Lazard

In related news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.35, for a total transaction of $2,951,250.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 227,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,950,078.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 3.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LAZ has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. TheStreet raised shares of Lazard from a “d+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $51.00 price target on shares of Lazard in a research note on Monday, January 29th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Lazard from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Wolfe Research upgraded Lazard from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.00.

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.