Quantbot Technologies LP Grows Stock Position in Lazard, Inc. $LAZ

Key Points

• Quantbot Technologies LP increased its stake in Lazard, Inc. by an astonishing 2,942.6% in the first quarter of 2023, owning 42,840 shares valued at approximately $1.85 million.
• Lazard reported a revenue of $796 million for the last quarter, exceeding analyst expectations and marking a 16.2% increase compared to the previous year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.50 per share, with an annualized dividend yield of 3.8% based on its stock price.

Quantbot Technologies LP lifted its position in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ - Free Report) by 2,942.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 42,840 shares of the asset manager's stock after buying an additional 41,432 shares during the quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP's holdings in Lazard were worth $1,855,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Lazard by 42.2% during the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,644,323 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $71,199,000 after acquiring an additional 487,574 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Lazard by 98.7% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,284,711 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $66,137,000 after acquiring an additional 638,169 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Lazard by 6.9% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,283,279 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $55,566,000 after buying an additional 82,878 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its position in Lazard by 24.1% during the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,140,435 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $58,710,000 after buying an additional 221,783 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Lazard by 25.2% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,094,723 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $56,358,000 after buying an additional 220,375 shares during the period. 54.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Lazard Stock Performance

Shares of Lazard stock traded up $2.5360 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $55.7660. 1,256,091 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 882,620. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $51.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $46.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.23 and a beta of 1.35. Lazard, Inc. has a one year low of $31.97 and a one year high of $61.14. The company has a quick ratio of 2.53, a current ratio of 2.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.14. Lazard had a return on equity of 34.33% and a net margin of 9.96%.The company had revenue of $796.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $674.13 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.52 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 16.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. Lazard's dividend payout ratio is presently 68.97%.

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.