Lazard, Inc. $LAZ Shares Sold by Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. cut its stake in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ - Free Report) by 4.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,015,249 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 48,946 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned about 0.90% of Lazard worth $43,960,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lazard in the 1st quarter valued at $251,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Lazard by 9.7% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 287,574 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $12,452,000 after buying an additional 25,480 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Lazard by 10.0% during the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 5,089 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $220,000 after buying an additional 461 shares during the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. grew its stake in Lazard by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 14,549 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $630,000 after buying an additional 375 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue grew its stake in Lazard by 5.7% during the 1st quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 166,415 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $7,205,000 after buying an additional 9,000 shares during the last quarter. 54.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on LAZ shares. Citigroup restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Lazard in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Lazard from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Lazard from $38.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Lazard from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Lazard from $33.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $51.50.

Lazard Price Performance

NYSE:LAZ traded down $0.36 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $53.38. 631,213 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,103,005. Lazard, Inc. has a 52-week low of $31.97 and a 52-week high of $61.14. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $50.43 and its 200 day moving average price is $46.47. The company has a current ratio of 2.53, a quick ratio of 2.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15. The company has a market cap of $6.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.41 and a beta of 1.35.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.52 earnings per share (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 analyst estimates of $674.13 million. Lazard had a return on equity of 34.33% and a net margin of 9.96%.The business's 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. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.7%. Lazard's dividend payout ratio is currently 68.97%.

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.