Macquarie Group Ltd. Buys 12,010 Shares of Lazard Ltd (NYSE:LAZ)

Macquarie Group Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Lazard Ltd (NYSE:LAZ – Get Rating) by 31.9% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 49,710 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,010 shares during the period. Macquarie Group Ltd.’s holdings in Lazard were worth $1,582,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Spire Wealth Management bought a new position in Lazard during the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lazard during the 2nd quarter worth $49,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its stake in shares of Lazard by 489.4% during the 3rd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,727 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 1,434 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Lazard by 64.3% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,839 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 720 shares during the period. Finally, First Manhattan Co. raised its stake in shares of Lazard by 267.5% during the 1st quarter. First Manhattan Co. now owns 2,205 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $75,000 after purchasing an additional 1,605 shares during the period. 63.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on LAZ shares. StockNews.com cut Lazard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 3rd. JMP Securities decreased their price objective on Lazard from $56.00 to $53.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Lazard has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $38.50.

Lazard Stock Down 4.6 %

LAZ stock opened at $34.29 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.99, a current ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.87 billion, a PE ratio of 9.88 and a beta of 1.41. Lazard Ltd has a twelve month low of $30.20 and a twelve month high of $43.44. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $38.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $36.48.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 2nd. The asset manager reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $731.86 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $655.09 million. Lazard had a net margin of 12.52% and a return on equity of 48.82%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 27.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.92 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Lazard Ltd will post 3.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 13th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 10th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.83%. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 57.64%.

Lazard Profile

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Lazard Ltd. is a financial advisory and asset management firm, which engages in the provision of crafting solutions to the clients, including corporations, governments, institutions, partnerships, and individuals. It operates through the Financial Advisory and Asset Management segments. The Financial Advisory segment offers corporate, partnership, institutional, government, sovereign, and individual clients, an array of financial advisory services regarding mergers and acquisitions, restructurings, capital structure, capital raising, and corporate preparedness.