Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 155,597 Shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its position in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ - Free Report) by 8.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,784,257 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 155,597 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 1.58% of Lazard worth $77,258,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Lazard by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,788,512 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $555,393,000 after purchasing an additional 81,559 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in Lazard by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 4,429,776 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $228,045,000 after buying an additional 240,938 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Lazard by 26.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,297,249 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $118,294,000 after buying an additional 483,696 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in Lazard by 98.7% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,284,711 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $66,137,000 after buying an additional 638,169 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Lazard during the fourth quarter worth approximately $59,962,000. Institutional investors own 54.80% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. JMP Securities reissued a "market outperform" rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Lazard in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Lazard from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Lazard from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Lazard from $44.00 to $38.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Lazard from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Lazard currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $46.33.

Lazard Price Performance

Shares of LAZ stock traded down $0.59 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $49.78. The company's stock had a trading volume of 871,522 shares, compared to its average volume of 967,169. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $44.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $46.08. The company has a market capitalization of $5.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.34 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. The company has a quick ratio of 3.24, a current ratio of 3.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.60.

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

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.02%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 5th. Lazard's dividend payout ratio is currently 69.69%.

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.