Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. Sells 2,262 Shares of Lazard Ltd (NYSE:LAZ)

Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Lazard Ltd (NYSE:LAZ – Get Rating) by 12.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,446 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 2,262 shares during the quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Lazard were worth $570,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. CENTRAL TRUST Co raised its position in shares of Lazard by 88.7% during the 3rd quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 800 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 376 shares in the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management purchased a new position in Lazard during the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its position in Lazard by 489.4% during the 3rd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,727 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 1,434 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Lazard by 64.3% in the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,839 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 720 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Manhattan Co. lifted its stake in shares of Lazard by 267.5% in the first quarter. First Manhattan Co. now owns 2,205 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $75,000 after buying an additional 1,605 shares in the last quarter. 63.55% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LAZ has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Lazard from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $29.00 to $36.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 12th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Lazard in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, TheStreet cut shares of Lazard from a “b” rating to a “c” rating in a research note on Friday, April 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $39.80.

Lazard Stock Performance

NYSE:LAZ opened at $28.48 on Thursday. Lazard Ltd has a fifty-two week low of $27.71 and a fifty-two week high of $43.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.21 billion, a PE ratio of 13.25 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a fifty day moving average of $31.57 and a two-hundred day moving average of $35.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.32, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 28th. The asset manager reported ($0.26) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.30 by ($0.56). The company had revenue of $561.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $549.62 million. Lazard had a return on equity of 36.72% and a net margin of 8.20%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.05 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Lazard Ltd will post 0.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 19th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 8th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 5th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.02%. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 93.02%.

About Lazard

(Get Rating)

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.