Deutsche Bank AG Decreases Stock Holdings in Lazard, Inc. $LAZ

Key Points

• Deutsche Bank AG significantly reduced its stake in Lazard, Inc. by 68.5%, selling 38,574 shares and retaining just 17,714 shares, valued at approximately $767,000.
• Lazard reported a net margin of 9.96% and a return on equity of 34.33%, with quarterly revenue up 16.2% from the previous year, amounting to $796 million.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.50, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 3.5%.

Deutsche Bank AG cut its stake in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ - Free Report) by 68.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,714 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 38,574 shares during the quarter. Deutsche Bank AG's holdings in Lazard were worth $767,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LAZ. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lazard in the 1st quarter worth approximately $251,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Lazard by 9.7% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 287,574 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $12,452,000 after acquiring an additional 25,480 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Lazard by 10.0% during the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 5,089 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $220,000 after acquiring an additional 461 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of Lazard by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 14,549 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $630,000 after acquiring an additional 375 shares during the period. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its position in shares of 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 valued at $7,205,000 after acquiring an additional 9,000 shares during the period. 54.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LAZ has been the topic of several research reports. 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 report on Monday, June 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Lazard from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Citigroup reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Lazard in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Lazard from $38.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Finally, JMP Securities set a $60.00 price target on shares of Lazard and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $52.33.

Lazard Price Performance

Shares of LAZ stock traded down $0.60 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $57.15. 749,570 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 774,132. The company has a market capitalization of $6.44 billion, a PE ratio of 19.71 and a beta of 1.35. Lazard, Inc. has a 12-month low of $31.97 and a 12-month high of $61.14. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $52.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $46.59. 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 (NYSE:LAZ - Get Free Report) last issued its 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. Lazard had a net margin of 9.96% and a return on equity of 34.33%. The company had revenue of $796.00 million for 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. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 16.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

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