Victory Capital Management Inc. Has $59.55 Million Stock Position in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 8.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,156,749 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 92,318 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Lazard were worth $59,549,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Berbice Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lazard in the 4th quarter worth approximately $46,000. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lazard in the 4th quarter worth approximately $53,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Lazard in the 4th quarter worth approximately $60,000. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Lazard by 209.0% in the 4th quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,267 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $65,000 after buying an additional 857 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Spire Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Lazard in the 4th quarter worth approximately $69,000. 54.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Lazard news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 25,000 shares of Lazard stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.32, for a total value of $1,383,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 163,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,041,943.36. This trade represents a 13.27 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 3.86% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on LAZ. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on Lazard from $51.00 to $44.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Lazard from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group raised their price target on Lazard from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Wolfe Research lowered Lazard from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Lazard from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $55.33.

Lazard Stock Performance

Shares of Lazard stock opened at $48.91 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.52 billion, a PE ratio of 18.39 and a beta of 1.41. Lazard, Inc. has a 12 month low of $35.56 and a 12 month high of $61.14. 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 stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $51.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $51.86.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.09. Lazard had a return on equity of 44.58% and a net margin of 8.98%. On average, research analysts predict that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 EPS for the current year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Lazard’s payout ratio is presently 75.19%.

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.