M&T Bank Corp Lowers Stock Holdings in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

M&T Bank Corp reduced its position in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ - Free Report) by 21.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 56,051 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 15,350 shares during the quarter. M&T Bank Corp's holdings in Lazard were worth $2,427,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina raised its stake in Lazard by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 48,129 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $2,478,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its stake in 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 during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp raised its stake in Lazard by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 95,707 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $4,927,000 after purchasing an additional 365 shares during the last quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC raised its stake in Lazard by 5.1% in the 1st quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 8,275 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $358,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Lazard by 10.0% in the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 5,089 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $220,000 after purchasing an additional 461 shares during the last quarter. 54.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Lazard Trading Down 0.0%

Shares of NYSE:LAZ traded down $0.02 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $51.99. 1,242,041 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 966,664. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $45.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $46.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.60, a current ratio of 3.24 and a quick ratio of 3.24. The stock has a market cap of $5.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.11 and a beta of 1.33. Lazard, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $31.97 and a fifty-two week high of $61.14.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The asset manager reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.27. The firm had revenue of $669.16 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $698.39 million. Lazard had a return on equity of 37.64% and a net margin of 10.15%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.66 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Investors of record on Monday, May 5th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 5th. Lazard's payout ratio is 69.69%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LAZ has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Lazard from $33.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Lazard from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Lazard from $38.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Lazard from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded 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 given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $48.33.

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.