Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) Shares Purchased by Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC

Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC grew its holdings in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 4.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 45,549 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 1,838 shares during the period. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC’s holdings in Lazard were worth $2,345,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Lazard by 10.1% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,250,049 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $113,357,000 after purchasing an additional 206,295 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in shares of Lazard during the third quarter worth $2,322,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted its position in Lazard by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 69,760 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,515,000 after buying an additional 1,190 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Lazard by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,813,553 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $91,392,000 after purchasing an additional 15,151 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC acquired a new stake in Lazard in the third quarter valued at $296,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Lazard Price Performance

Shares of LAZ traded up $0.73 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $50.20. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,194,373 shares, compared to its average volume of 884,721. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72, a current ratio of 2.24 and a quick ratio of 2.24. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $54.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $49.23. Lazard, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $35.56 and a fifty-two week high of $61.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.00 and a beta of 1.40.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The asset manager reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by ($0.03). Lazard had a net margin of 8.28% and a return on equity of 42.20%. The company had revenue of $646.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $644.22 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.10 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Lazard, Inc. will post 2.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.98%. Lazard’s payout ratio is currently 79.68%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on LAZ shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered shares of Lazard from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $65.00 to $57.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Wolfe Research downgraded Lazard from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of Lazard in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $51.00 target price for the company. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Lazard from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Lazard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $54.00.

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.