International Assets Investment Management LLC Purchases New Shares in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 5,805 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $251,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Lazard by 10.0% in the first 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 in the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue grew 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 worth $7,205,000 after purchasing an additional 9,000 shares in the last quarter. Lesa Sroufe & Co bought a new position in shares of Lazard during the first quarter worth approximately $2,211,000. Great Lakes Retirement Inc. raised its position in shares of Lazard by 10.1% in the first quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc. now owns 20,907 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $905,000 after buying an additional 1,926 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its stake in shares of Lazard by 11.0% in the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 57,095 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $2,472,000 after buying an additional 5,680 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.80% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Lazard from $44.00 to $38.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Lazard from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Lazard from $33.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. JMP Securities restated a "market outperform" rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Lazard in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Lazard from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $46.33.

Lazard Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of Lazard stock opened at $47.91 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.40 billion, a PE ratio of 16.69 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a current ratio of 3.24, a quick ratio of 3.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.60. The firm's 50 day moving average is $43.02 and its 200 day moving average is $46.29. Lazard, Inc. has a 1 year low of $31.97 and a 1 year high of $61.14.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The asset manager reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 return on equity of 37.64% and a net margin of 10.15%. Lazard's revenue was down 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.66 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 5th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 5th. Lazard's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 69.69%.

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.

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