25,725 Shares in Lazard, Inc. $LAZ Bought by Calton & Associates Inc.

Key Points

• Calton & Associates Inc. acquired 25,725 shares of Lazard, Inc. valued at approximately $1,114,000 during the first quarter, indicating increased institutional interest in the asset manager.
• Notable analyst ratings include a price objective increase from $35.00 to $40.00 by Goldman Sachs, while JMP Securities set a price target of $60.00, reflecting varying outlooks on the stock.
• Lazard recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.50 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 3.5%, with a payout ratio of 68.97%.

Calton & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 25,725 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $1,114,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LAZ. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Lazard by 2,324.4% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,099,179 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $264,096,000 after buying an additional 5,847,608 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in Lazard by 98.7% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,284,711 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $66,137,000 after buying an additional 638,169 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Lazard by 42.2% during the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,644,323 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $71,199,000 after buying an additional 487,574 shares in the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. acquired a new position in Lazard during the fourth quarter worth $14,160,000. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Lazard during the first quarter worth $10,998,000. 54.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LAZ has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. JMP Securities set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Lazard and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Lazard from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Lazard from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $60.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Monday, August 25th. Citigroup restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Lazard in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Lazard from $33.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $52.33.

Lazard Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LAZ opened at $57.15 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $52.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $46.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.71 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a quick ratio of 2.53, a current ratio of 2.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15. Lazard, Inc. has a 52 week low of $31.97 and a 52 week high of $61.14.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $796.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $674.13 million. Lazard had a net margin of 9.96% and a return on equity of 34.33%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 16.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.52 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The company 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. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. Lazard's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.97%.

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.

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