Swedbank AB grew its position in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ - Free Report) by 28.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 207,000 shares of the asset manager's stock after acquiring an additional 46,200 shares during the quarter. Swedbank AB owned about 0.18% of Lazard worth $10,656,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of LAZ. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Lazard by 22.0% in the 4th quarter. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC now owns 89,486 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $4,607,000 after buying an additional 16,121 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its position in Lazard by 54.1% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,813 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $196,000 after acquiring an additional 1,338 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in Lazard during the fourth quarter worth approximately $60,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Lazard during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Finally, Impact Partnership Wealth LLC raised its position in Lazard by 78.1% during the fourth quarter. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC now owns 9,442 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $486,000 after purchasing an additional 4,140 shares during the period. 54.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Several research firms have recently weighed in on LAZ. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Lazard from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Lazard from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Lazard from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. JMP Securities upped their price target on shares of Lazard from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Lazard from $51.00 to $44.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Lazard presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $55.00.
View Our Latest Report on Lazard
Shares of LAZ opened at $54.52 on Friday. 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 market capitalization of $6.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.72 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a 50-day moving average of $52.82 and a 200 day moving average of $50.88. Lazard, Inc. has a 1-year low of $35.56 and a 1-year high of $61.14.
Lazard (NYSE:LAZ - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.09. Lazard had a return on equity of 42.20% and a net margin of 8.28%. On average, research analysts expect that Lazard, Inc. will post 2.06 EPS for the current year.
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.67%. Lazard's dividend payout ratio is currently 79.68%.
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.
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