American Century Companies Inc. Takes Position in Lazard, Inc. $LAZ

Key Points

• American Century Companies Inc. acquired 9,775 shares of Lazard, Inc. valued at approximately $423,000, indicating growing interest from institutional investors.
• Lazard reported quarterly earnings exceeding expectations with an EPS of $0.52, surpassing the consensus estimate by $0.14, and their revenue increased by 16.2% year-over-year.
• The firm has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.50, yielding 3.5% annually, with a payout ratio of 68.97%.

American Century Companies Inc. acquired a new stake in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 9,775 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $423,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of LAZ. Comerica Bank raised its position in shares of Lazard by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 12,176 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $627,000 after buying an additional 538 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of Lazard by 98.7% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,284,711 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $66,137,000 after buying an additional 638,169 shares during the last quarter. Algert Global LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lazard in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $755,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in shares of Lazard by 1,114.2% in the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 238,388 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $12,272,000 after buying an additional 218,755 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Lazard by 24.5% in the fourth quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 10,709 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $551,000 after buying an additional 2,109 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.80% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target 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. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Lazard from $38.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Citigroup reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Lazard in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Lazard from $47.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, JMP Securities set a $60.00 price target on shares of Lazard and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Lazard presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $55.00.

Lazard Trading Up 1.9%

LAZ traded up $1.08 during trading on Thursday, hitting $56.73. 994,853 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 748,637. The company has a current ratio of 2.53, a quick ratio of 2.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15. Lazard, Inc. has a 1 year low of $31.97 and a 1 year high of $61.14. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $53.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $46.88. The firm has a market cap of $6.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.56 and a beta of 1.35.

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

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th were paid 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 payout ratio is currently 68.97%.

Insider Activity at Lazard

In other news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 50,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.95, for a total value of $2,847,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 227,915 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,979,759.25. This represents a 17.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Michael Gathy sold 617 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.37, for a total transaction of $34,163.29. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 75,617 shares of company stock valued at $4,274,413. 3.86% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.