Virtu Financial LLC Acquires New Position in Lazard, Inc. $LAZ

Key Points

• Virtu Financial LLC acquired 13,810 shares of Lazard, Inc. in Q1, valued at approximately $598,000.
• Analysts have raised their price targets for Lazard, with Goldman Sachs setting a target of $40 and Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increasing theirs to $60, while maintaining a mix of ratings varying from "sell" to "market outperform."
• Lazard announced a quarterly dividend of $0.50 per share, equating to an annualized dividend of $2.00 and a yield of 3.6%.

Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 13,810 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $598,000.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Lazard by 11.5% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 41,713 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $2,147,000 after buying an additional 4,309 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its holdings in shares of Lazard by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 69,090 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $3,557,000 after purchasing an additional 2,183 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Lazard during the fourth quarter worth $2,285,000. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina grew its position in Lazard by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 48,129 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $2,478,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Lazard by 54.3% in the fourth quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 977 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 344 shares in the last quarter. 54.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Lazard Price Performance

LAZ traded down $0.71 on Monday, hitting $53.31. 164,060 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,106,900. Lazard, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $31.97 and a fifty-two week high of $61.14. The company has a current ratio of 2.53, a quick ratio of 2.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $50.01 and a 200-day moving average price of $46.42. The stock has a market cap of $6.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.38 and a beta of 1.35.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $796.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $674.13 million. Lazard had a net margin of 9.96% and a return on equity of 34.33%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 16.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.52 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.8%. Lazard's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.97%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LAZ has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Lazard from $38.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Lazard from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Lazard from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Citigroup restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Lazard in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, JMP Securities set a $60.00 target price on shares of Lazard and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $51.50.

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.