Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) Shares Sold by New York State Common Retirement Fund

New York State Common Retirement Fund decreased its stake in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ - Free Report) by 2.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 269,816 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 6,324 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned 0.24% of Lazard worth $11,683,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Lazard in the first quarter valued at about $251,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new stake in shares of Lazard in the fourth quarter valued at about $947,000. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its position 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 purchasing an additional 461 shares during the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue grew its position in shares of Lazard by 5.7% in the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 166,415 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $7,205,000 after purchasing an additional 9,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ranger Investment Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Lazard in the fourth quarter valued at about $18,372,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.80% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on 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 increased their target price on shares of Lazard from $38.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. JMP Securities set a $60.00 target price on shares of Lazard and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Citigroup reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Lazard in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Lazard from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lazard has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $51.00.

Lazard Price Performance

Shares of Lazard stock traded up $0.15 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $54.31. The company had a trading volume of 773,420 shares, compared to its average volume of 963,195. 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 company has a market capitalization of $6.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.92 and a beta of 1.33. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $46.55 and a 200 day simple moving average of $46.16. 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 released its earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The asset manager reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.27. Lazard had a net margin of 10.15% and a return on equity of 37.64%. The firm had revenue of $669.16 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $698.39 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.66 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was down 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 5th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 5th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.68%. Lazard's dividend payout ratio is 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.