Mackenzie Financial Corp Has $2.67 Million Holdings in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Mackenzie Financial Corp lowered its holdings in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ - Free Report) by 66.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 76,736 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 149,516 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp owned about 0.07% of Lazard worth $2,670,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Lazard by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,519,785 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $326,219,000 after acquiring an additional 42,455 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Lazard by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,563,521 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $296,565,000 after purchasing an additional 436,034 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Lazard by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,825,805 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $87,628,000 after buying an additional 84,312 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG lifted its position in shares of Lazard by 84.3% during the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,019,121 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $31,603,000 after buying an additional 466,301 shares during the period. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its position in shares of Lazard by 265.0% during the 3rd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 791,158 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $24,740,000 after buying an additional 574,379 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 54.80% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Lazard news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 75,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.35, for a total value of $2,951,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 227,448 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,950,078.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 3.14% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Lazard Trading Up 3.0 %

LAZ stock traded up $1.15 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $39.65. The company had a trading volume of 727,731 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,181,045. The stock has a market cap of $4.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -40.87 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a quick ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.51. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $39.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $35.23. Lazard, Inc. has a 12 month low of $25.82 and a 12 month high of $42.24.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The asset manager reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.31. The company had revenue of $825.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $666.56 million. Lazard had a positive return on equity of 16.43% and a negative net margin of 2.93%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.69 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Lazard, Inc. will post 3.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 12th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. Lazard's dividend payout ratio is -206.18%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LAZ has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $51.00 price objective on shares of Lazard in a report on Monday, January 29th. TheStreet raised shares of Lazard from a "d+" rating to a "c+" rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Lazard from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Wolfe Research raised Lazard from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $42.00 price target for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com raised Lazard from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $46.00.

About Lazard

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.