International Assets Investment Management LLC Increases Stock Position in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 1,165.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 176,491 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 162,549 shares during the quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC owned about 0.16% of Lazard worth $6,142,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of LAZ. CENTRAL TRUST Co lifted its stake in Lazard by 88.7% in the 3rd quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 800 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 376 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Lazard in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Lazard in the 1st quarter worth approximately $48,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its stake in Lazard by 489.4% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in Lazard in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $60,000. 54.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on LAZ shares. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Lazard from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. TheStreet raised shares of Lazard from a “d+” rating to a “c+” rating in a 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 report on Monday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $58.00 price target on shares of Lazard in a report on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Lazard from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. One research 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, Lazard currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lazard news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.35, for a total value of $2,951,250.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now 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 SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 3.86% of the company’s stock.

Lazard Price Performance

LAZ stock opened at $38.37 on Monday. 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, Inc. has a 52 week low of $25.82 and a 52 week high of $42.24. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $39.37 and its 200 day moving average is $34.84. The firm has a market cap of $4.33 billion, a P/E ratio of -39.56 and a beta of 1.46.

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

Lazard Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 12th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -206.19%.

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.