Lazard, Inc. $LAZ Shares Sold by Epoch Investment Partners Inc.

Key Points

• Epoch Investment Partners Inc. reduced its stake in Lazard, Inc. by 10%, selling 183,675 shares, now holding 1,648,014 shares valued at approximately $71.36 million.
• Lazard's quarterly earnings report showed an EPS of $0.52, surpassing estimates, with revenue of $796 million, reflecting a 16.2% year-over-year increase.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.50 per share, representing a dividend yield of 3.5% and a payout ratio of 68.97%.

Epoch Investment Partners Inc. lowered its position in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ - Free Report) by 10.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,648,014 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 183,675 shares during the quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. owned 1.46% of Lazard worth $71,359,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of LAZ. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Lazard in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,285,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 344 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Lazard by 25.2% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,094,723 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $56,358,000 after purchasing an additional 220,375 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its stake in shares of Lazard by 101.6% in the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 5,892 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $303,000 after purchasing an additional 2,970 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. raised its stake in shares of Lazard by 119.5% in the 4th quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 2,028 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $104,000 after purchasing an additional 1,104 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.80% of the company's stock.

Lazard Stock Performance

NYSE LAZ traded down $0.60 on Friday, hitting $57.15. The stock had a trading volume of 749,570 shares, compared to its average volume of 803,019. Lazard, Inc. has a one year low of $31.97 and a one year high of $61.14. The company has a quick ratio of 2.53, a current ratio of 2.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15. The stock has a market cap of $6.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.71 and a beta of 1.35. The company's 50-day moving average is $52.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $46.64.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ - Get Free Report) last posted 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 firm had revenue of $796.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $674.13 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.52 EPS. Lazard's quarterly revenue was up 16.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LAZ has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Lazard in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Lazard from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $60.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Monday, August 25th. 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. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Lazard from $33.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Lazard from $38.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Lazard has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $52.33.

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.