Royal Bank of Canada Has $58.71 Million Stake in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Royal Bank of Canada lifted its stake in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 24.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,140,435 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 221,783 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada’s holdings in Lazard were worth $58,710,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Graham Capital Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Lazard during the 4th quarter worth approximately $206,000. Focus Partners Wealth grew its position in shares of Lazard by 7.1% during the 4th quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 37,253 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,918,000 after buying an additional 2,454 shares during the period. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Lazard during the 4th quarter worth approximately $476,000. Deutsche Bank AG grew its position in shares of Lazard by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 56,288 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,898,000 after buying an additional 838 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers grew its position in shares of Lazard by 19.5% during the 4th quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 14,144 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $728,000 after buying an additional 2,306 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on LAZ. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Lazard from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Lazard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Lazard in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Lazard from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $56.00 to $33.00 in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Lazard from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $44.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lazard

In other Lazard news, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 64,539 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.56, for a total transaction of $2,940,396.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 170,285 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,758,184.60. This trade represents a 27.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 3.86% of the company’s stock.

Lazard Stock Performance

NYSE LAZ opened at $45.00 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.24, a quick ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $40.97 and a 200 day simple moving average of $48.62. Lazard, Inc. has a 12-month low of $31.97 and a 12-month high of $61.14. The company has a market cap of $5.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.92 and a beta of 1.28.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The asset manager reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.27. Lazard had a return on equity of 44.58% and a net margin of 8.98%. The business had revenue of $669.16 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $698.39 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.66 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 5th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 5th. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.69%.

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.