Federated Hermes Inc. Buys 15,812 Shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Key Points

• Federated Hermes Inc. increased its stake in Lazard, acquiring an additional 15,812 shares, bringing its total holdings to 646,882 shares, valued at approximately $28 million.
• Lazard's recent quarterly earnings exceeded forecasts, with reported revenue of $796 million and earnings per share of $0.52, resulting in a year-over-year revenue increase of 16.2%.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.50, representing a 4% yield, with payment scheduled for August 15th.

Federated Hermes Inc. grew its stake in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ - Free Report) by 2.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 646,882 shares of the asset manager's stock after acquiring an additional 15,812 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. owned about 0.57% of Lazard worth $28,010,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Lazard during the 4th quarter worth $59,962,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Lazard by 98.7% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,284,711 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $66,137,000 after purchasing an additional 638,169 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in Lazard by 335.1% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 734,962 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $37,836,000 after purchasing an additional 566,051 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Lazard by 42.2% in the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,644,323 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $71,199,000 after purchasing an additional 487,574 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Lazard by 26.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,297,249 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $118,294,000 after purchasing an additional 483,696 shares in the last quarter. 54.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LAZ has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Lazard from $33.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Citigroup reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Lazard in a report on Monday, July 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Lazard from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Lazard from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Lazard from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Two 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. According to MarketBeat.com, Lazard presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $51.50.

Lazard Trading Down 3.6%

Shares of Lazard stock traded down $1.85 on Friday, hitting $50.13. 1,327,319 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,027,240. Lazard, Inc. has a one year low of $31.97 and a one year high of $61.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 2.53 and a quick ratio of 3.24. The company has a fifty day moving average of $48.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $46.48. The company has a market capitalization of $5.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.29 and a beta of 1.33.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $796.00 million for 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 company's quarterly revenue was up 16.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.52 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 4th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. Lazard's dividend payout ratio is presently 68.97%.

Lazard Company 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.