Lesa Sroufe & Co Makes New Investment in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Lesa Sroufe & Co bought a new stake in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 51,052 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $2,211,000. Lazard accounts for about 2.2% of Lesa Sroufe & Co's investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest holding.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. purchased a new position in Lazard in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Lazard in the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Lazard by 54.3% in the fourth quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 977 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 344 shares during the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC grew its stake in Lazard by 85.8% during the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 1,137 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 525 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Lazard by 164.1% during the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,244 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 773 shares during the last quarter. 54.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on LAZ. Morgan Stanley cut Lazard from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and reduced their target price for the company from $56.00 to $33.00 in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Lazard from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. JMP Securities restated a "market outperform" rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Lazard in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target 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. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Lazard from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Lazard currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $44.33.

Lazard Stock Performance

LAZ traded up $0.10 on Friday, hitting $43.65. 911,166 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 974,305. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average of $41.70 and a two-hundred day moving average of $46.67. Lazard, Inc. has a twelve month low of $31.97 and a twelve month high of $61.14. The firm has a market cap of $4.92 billion, a PE ratio of 15.21 and a beta of 1.32.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The asset manager reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.27. Lazard had a return on equity of 37.64% and a net margin of 10.15%. The business had revenue of $669.16 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $698.39 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.66 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was down 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 5th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.58%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 5th. Lazard's payout ratio is 69.69%.

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.