Banque Pictet & Cie SA Makes New $771,000 Investment in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Banque Pictet & Cie SA acquired a new position in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 17,803 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $771,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of LAZ. TD Private Client Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Lazard by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 71,906 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $3,114,000 after acquiring an additional 4,861 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Lazard by 9.7% during the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 287,574 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $12,452,000 after acquiring an additional 25,480 shares during the period. HM Payson & Co. increased its position in shares of Lazard by 861.2% during the first quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 2,057 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $89,000 after acquiring an additional 1,843 shares during the period. Cannon Global Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Lazard by 8.3% during the first quarter. Cannon Global Investment Management LLC now owns 6,500 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $281,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the period. Finally, DAVENPORT & Co LLC increased its holdings in Lazard by 5.1% during the first quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 8,275 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $358,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.80% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on LAZ. JMP Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Lazard from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Lazard from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Lazard from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Lazard from $33.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Lazard from $46.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Monday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lazard presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $51.00.

Lazard Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:LAZ traded up $1.32 on Monday, hitting $53.24. 1,045,457 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 967,684. Lazard, Inc. has a 1-year low of $31.97 and a 1-year high of $61.14. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $45.37 and its 200 day moving average price is $46.06. The company has a current ratio of 3.24, a quick ratio of 3.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.55 and a beta of 1.33.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The asset manager reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.27. The company had revenue of $669.16 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $698.39 million. Lazard had a net margin of 10.15% and a return on equity of 37.64%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.66 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 EPS for the current year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Investors of record on Monday, May 5th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 5th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.76%. Lazard's dividend payout ratio is presently 69.69%.

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.