Edgestream Partners L.P. Has $1.72 Million Holdings in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Edgestream Partners L.P. trimmed its holdings in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ - Free Report) by 54.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 39,681 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 47,491 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P.'s holdings in Lazard were worth $1,718,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted its position in Lazard by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 48,129 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $2,478,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC lifted its position in Lazard by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 19,558 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $847,000 after acquiring an additional 343 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its position in Lazard by 54.3% in the 4th 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. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its position in Lazard by 0.4% in the 4th 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. Finally, DAVENPORT & Co LLC lifted its position in Lazard by 5.1% in the 1st quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 8,275 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $358,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. 54.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Lazard Stock Performance

Shares of LAZ stock traded down $0.03 on Monday, reaching $54.32. The stock had a trading volume of 362,576 shares, compared to its average volume of 960,833. The firm's 50-day moving average is $46.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $46.12. The company has a quick ratio of 3.24, a current ratio of 3.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.93 and a beta of 1.33. 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 posted its earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The asset manager reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.27. The company had revenue of $669.16 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $698.39 million. Lazard had a net margin of 10.15% and a return on equity of 37.64%. Lazard's quarterly revenue was down 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.66 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Stockholders 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 3.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 5th. Lazard's dividend payout ratio is presently 69.69%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LAZ has been the topic of several research reports. JMP Securities set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Lazard and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Lazard from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Lazard from $38.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Lazard from $46.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Lazard from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Lazard presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $51.00.

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.