Lazard, Inc. $LAZ Stock Position Boosted by Ameriprise Financial Inc.

Key Points

• Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in Lazard, Inc. by 31.6%, acquiring an additional 406,232 shares, bringing its total ownership to approximately 1.50% of Lazard's stock, valued at $73.2 million.
• Lazard recently reported earnings that exceeded analysts' expectations, with an EPS of $0.52 compared to the consensus estimate of $0.38 and a 16.2% year-over-year revenue increase.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.50 per share, equivalent to an annual yield of 3.5%, with a payout ratio of 68.97%.

Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ - Free Report) by 31.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,690,943 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 406,232 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned about 1.50% of Lazard worth $73,214,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in LAZ. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Lazard during the fourth quarter worth $2,285,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised 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 acquiring an additional 344 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Lazard by 25.2% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,094,723 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $56,358,000 after acquiring an additional 220,375 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its holdings in Lazard by 101.6% in the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 5,892 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $303,000 after acquiring an additional 2,970 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp raised its holdings in Lazard by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 95,707 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $4,927,000 after acquiring an additional 365 shares in the last quarter. 54.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LAZ has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Lazard from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price target for the company from $60.00 to $65.00 in a report on Monday, August 25th. Citigroup reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Lazard in a report on Monday, July 14th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Lazard from $38.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. JMP Securities set a $60.00 target price on shares of Lazard and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $52.33.

Lazard Stock Performance

Shares of Lazard stock traded down $0.60 during trading on Monday, hitting $57.15. 749,570 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 774,132. The stock's fifty day moving average is $52.43 and its 200 day moving average is $46.59. The stock has a market cap of $6.44 billion, a PE ratio of 19.71 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 2.53 and a current ratio of 2.53. Lazard, Inc. has a 12 month low of $31.97 and a 12 month high of $61.14.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $796.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.52 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 EPS for the current year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. Lazard's dividend payout ratio is currently 68.97%.

Lazard 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.