National Bank of Canada FI Purchases 8,785 Shares of Lazard, Inc. $LAZ

Key Points

• National Bank of Canada FI significantly increased its stake in Lazard, Inc. by 357.5% during the first quarter, bringing its total holdings to $487,000.
• Lazard reported earnings per share (EPS) of $0.52 for the quarter, exceeding consensus estimates by $0.14 and showing a 16.2% year-over-year revenue growth.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.50, resulting in an annualized yield of 3.7%, with a payout ratio of 68.97%.

National Bank of Canada FI raised its position in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ - Free Report) by 357.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,242 shares of the asset manager's stock after acquiring an additional 8,785 shares during the quarter. National Bank of Canada FI's holdings in Lazard were worth $487,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Citigroup Inc. increased its position in shares of Lazard by 5.1% in the first quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 358,970 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $15,543,000 after acquiring an additional 17,418 shares during the period. Argent Trust Co increased its position in shares of Lazard by 1.0% during the first quarter. Argent Trust Co now owns 45,524 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,971,000 after buying an additional 429 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Lazard by 12.5% during the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 2,259 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $98,000 after buying an additional 251 shares during the period. Commerce Bank increased its position in shares of Lazard by 11.9% during the first quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 10,933 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $473,000 after buying an additional 1,160 shares during the period. Finally, Vestcor Inc purchased a new position in shares of Lazard during the first quarter valued at about $309,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.80% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on LAZ shares. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Lazard from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Lazard from $33.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Lazard from $38.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. JMP Securities set a $60.00 price target on shares of Lazard and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Lazard from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lazard currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $51.50.

Lazard Stock Down 0.6%

NYSE:LAZ traded down $0.3050 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $53.4350. 179,274 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,100,078. 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 2.53. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $50.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $46.47. The company has a market cap of $6.03 billion, a PE ratio of 18.43 and a beta of 1.35.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ - Get Free Report) last issued its 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 firm had revenue of $796.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $674.13 million. Lazard had a net margin of 9.96% and a return on equity of 34.33%. The business's revenue was up 16.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.52 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 EPS for the current year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. Lazard's dividend payout ratio is currently 68.97%.

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.