Leuthold Group LLC Increases Holdings in Lazard, Inc. $LAZ

Key Points

• Leuthold Group LLC increased its Lazard stake by 888% in the fourth quarter, ending with 55,271 shares valued at about $2.68 million.
• Several other institutional investors also boosted holdings, and hedge funds and other institutions now own 54.8% of Lazard’s stock.
• Lazard posted Q1 earnings of $0.42 per share, missing estimates, while revenue of $672.98 million still rose 16.8% year over year; the company also declared a $0.50 quarterly dividend yielding about 4.4%.

Leuthold Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ - Free Report) by 888.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 55,271 shares of the asset manager's stock after buying an additional 49,677 shares during the quarter. Leuthold Group LLC's holdings in Lazard were worth $2,684,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. M&T Bank Corp raised its stake in shares of Lazard by 2,763.4% in the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 1,405,899 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $68,270,000 after purchasing an additional 1,356,800 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Lazard in the second quarter worth $34,305,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Lazard in the third quarter worth $18,201,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of Lazard by 1,065.3% in the third quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 347,564 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $18,334,000 after purchasing an additional 317,738 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Lazard by 2.2% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,180,752 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $590,120,000 after purchasing an additional 245,205 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.80% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other Lazard news, CEO Christopher Hogbin sold 3,944 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.37, for a total transaction of $155,275.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 11,829 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $465,707.73. The trade was a 25.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 69,170 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.76, for a total value of $2,819,369.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 210,942 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,597,995.92. This represents a 24.69% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 80,999 shares of company stock valued at $3,292,962 in the last three months. 0.95% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Lazard Stock Performance

Shares of LAZ opened at $45.28 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.94, a current ratio of 3.51 and a quick ratio of 3.51. Lazard, Inc. has a one year low of $38.67 and a one year high of $58.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.90, a PEG ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 1.44. The business has a fifty day moving average of $44.46 and a 200 day moving average of $48.74.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 1st. The asset manager reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.52 by ($0.10). Lazard had a return on equity of 29.30% and a net margin of 8.47%.The firm had revenue of $672.98 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $707.42 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.56 EPS. The business's revenue was up 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Lazard, Inc. will post 2.85 EPS for the current year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 11th. Lazard's payout ratio is currently 79.05%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Lazard from $59.00 to $52.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Citizens Jmp decreased their price target on Lazard from $65.00 to $60.00 and set a "market outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Lazard from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Lazard from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on Lazard in a research note on Monday, January 26th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $65.00 price target for the company. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Lazard currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $52.56.

About Lazard

Lazard Ltd. NYSE: LAZ is a leading global financial advisory and asset management firm, offering a comprehensive suite of services to corporations, governments and individuals. Founded in 1848, Lazard has built a reputation for providing independent advice and innovative solutions in complex financial transactions. The firm is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol LAZ and maintains its headquarters in Hamilton, Bermuda.

In its Financial Advisory segment, Lazard assists clients with mergers and acquisitions, restructurings, capital structure optimization and strategic planning.

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