Royce & Associates LP Sells 8,111 Shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Royce & Associates LP trimmed its holdings in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ - Free Report) by 0.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 847,802 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 8,111 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP owned 0.75% of Lazard worth $36,710,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Lazard by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,788,512 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $555,393,000 after buying an additional 81,559 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in shares of Lazard by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 4,429,776 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $228,045,000 after buying an additional 240,938 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Lazard by 26.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,297,249 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $118,294,000 after buying an additional 483,696 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Lazard by 42.2% in 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 buying an additional 487,574 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of Lazard by 98.7% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,284,711 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $66,137,000 after buying an additional 638,169 shares in the last quarter. 54.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Lazard Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of Lazard stock traded down $0.54 during trading on Monday, hitting $54.31. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,647,693 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,135,328. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.60, a current ratio of 3.24 and a quick ratio of 3.24. Lazard, Inc. has a 52 week low of $31.97 and a 52 week high of $61.14. The stock has a market cap of $6.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.73 and a beta of 1.33. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $47.36 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $46.27.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $796.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $674.13 million. Lazard had a net margin of 9.96% and a return on equity of 35.81%. Lazard's revenue for the quarter was up 16.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.52 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 4th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.68%. Lazard's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.97%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on LAZ. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective 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. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Lazard from $38.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. JMP Securities set a $60.00 price target on shares of Lazard and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Citigroup reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Lazard in a report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Lazard from $33.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Monday, June 23rd. 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 MarketBeat, Lazard has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $51.50.

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.