Strs Ohio Purchases Shares of 78,085 Lazard, Inc. $LAZ

Key Points

• Strs Ohio has acquired a new stake in Lazard, Inc. by purchasing 78,085 shares valued at approximately $3.4 million, equating to about 0.07% of the company's stock.
• Several hedge funds, including Price T Rowe Associates and Amundi, significantly increased their holdings in Lazard during the first quarter, indicating growing institutional interest.
• Lazard recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.50 per share, providing investors with an annual yield of 3.7% as of the latest report.

Strs Ohio purchased a new stake in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 78,085 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $3,381,000. Strs Ohio owned about 0.07% of Lazard as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of LAZ. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Lazard by 2,324.4% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,099,179 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $264,096,000 after buying an additional 5,847,608 shares during the last quarter. Amundi increased its holdings in shares of Lazard by 141.6% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 2,263,046 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $97,990,000 after acquiring an additional 1,326,370 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Lazard by 31.6% during the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,690,943 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $73,214,000 after acquiring an additional 406,232 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lazard during the first quarter valued at about $10,998,000. 54.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Lazard Trading Down 2.6%

Shares of LAZ stock opened at $54.13 on Tuesday. The stock's fifty day moving average is $54.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $46.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 2.53 and a current ratio of 2.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.67 and a beta of 1.35. Lazard, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $31.97 and a fifty-two week high of $61.14.

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 for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $796.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $674.13 million. Lazard had a return on equity of 34.33% and a net margin of 9.96%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 16.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.52 EPS. Research analysts expect that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Lazard from $38.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Citigroup restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Lazard in a report on Monday, July 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Lazard from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $60.00 to $65.00 in a report on Monday, August 25th. JMP Securities set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Lazard and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Lazard from $47.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $55.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 50,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.95, for a total transaction of $2,847,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 227,915 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,979,759.25. The trade was a 17.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Michael Gathy sold 617 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.37, for a total transaction of $34,163.29. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 75,617 shares of company stock worth $4,274,413. Corporate insiders own 2.26% of the company's stock.

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.

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