Bank of America Corp DE Decreases Holdings in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Bank of America Corp DE decreased its position in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ - Free Report) by 30.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 227,845 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 98,741 shares during the quarter. Bank of America Corp DE owned 0.20% of Lazard worth $11,729,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Lazard by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,788,512 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $555,393,000 after buying an additional 81,559 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of Lazard by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 4,429,776 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $228,045,000 after acquiring an additional 240,938 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Lazard by 26.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,297,249 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $118,294,000 after acquiring an additional 483,696 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Lazard by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,862,389 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $95,876,000 after acquiring an additional 90,152 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted 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 acquiring an additional 638,169 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.80% of the company's stock.

Lazard Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of Lazard stock opened at $43.17 on Friday. Lazard, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $31.97 and a fifty-two week high of $61.14. The firm has a market cap of $4.87 billion, a PE ratio of 16.23 and a beta of 1.28. The business's fifty day moving average is $40.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $48.51. The company has a quick ratio of 2.24, a current ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The asset manager reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.27. Lazard had a return on equity of 44.58% and a net margin of 8.98%. The company had revenue of $669.16 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $698.39 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.66 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 5th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 5th. Lazard's dividend payout ratio is presently 69.69%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on LAZ. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Lazard from $44.00 to $38.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Lazard from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Morgan Stanley downgraded Lazard from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $56.00 to $33.00 in a research report on Monday, April 7th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Lazard from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Lazard from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $44.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 64,539 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.24, for a total transaction of $2,919,744.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 234,824 shares in the company, valued at $10,623,437.76. This represents a 21.56% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 3.86% of the company's stock.

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.

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