Banque Pictet & Cie SA Acquires Shares of 17,803 Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

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

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of LAZ. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its stake in Lazard by 28.0% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,298 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $118,000 after acquiring an additional 503 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its stake in Lazard by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 26,169 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,347,000 after acquiring an additional 196 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Lazard in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,285,000. Amundi boosted its stake in Lazard by 31,967.0% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 936,676 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $46,886,000 after acquiring an additional 933,755 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC boosted its stake in Lazard by 85.8% in the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 1,137 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 525 shares in the last quarter. 54.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Lazard Stock Performance

Shares of Lazard stock traded down $0.02 during trading on Friday, hitting $51.99. 1,242,041 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 966,664. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.60, a quick ratio of 3.24 and a current ratio of 3.24. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $45.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $46.14. Lazard, Inc. has a 52-week low of $31.97 and a 52-week high of $61.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.11 and a beta of 1.33.

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

Lazard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Investors of record on Monday, May 5th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 5th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.85%. Lazard's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.69%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on LAZ shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Lazard from $38.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Lazard from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Lazard from $33.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Lazard from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a "market outperform" rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Lazard in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $48.33.

Lazard Company 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.