Summit Global Investments Takes Position in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Summit Global Investments bought a new position in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 26,003 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $905,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LAZ. Larson Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lazard in the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Lazard in the third quarter worth about $60,000. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. acquired a new stake in Lazard during the third quarter valued at approximately $210,000. EMC Capital Management boosted its holdings in Lazard by 23.2% during the third quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 7,870 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $244,000 after purchasing an additional 1,484 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Truist Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of Lazard by 14.6% in the 4th quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 8,114 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $282,000 after purchasing an additional 1,031 shares during the period. 54.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on LAZ shares. UBS Group boosted their price target on Lazard from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $49.00 target price (down previously from $51.00) on shares of Lazard in a report on Friday, April 26th. StockNews.com raised shares of Lazard from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. TheStreet raised shares of Lazard from a "d+" rating to a "c+" rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $58.00 price objective on shares of Lazard in a report on Thursday, April 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Lazard has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $45.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lazard

In other news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 75,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.35, for a total transaction of $2,951,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 227,448 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,950,078.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 3.86% of the company's stock.

Lazard Price Performance

Shares of LAZ stock traded up $0.28 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $39.05. 462,389 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 832,804. Lazard, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $25.82 and a fifty-two week high of $42.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.13, a current ratio of 1.89 and a quick ratio of 1.62. The stock's fifty day moving average is $39.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $35.74. The company has a market cap of $4.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -111.57 and a beta of 1.46.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The asset manager reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $765.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $678.57 million. Lazard had a positive return on equity of 37.27% and a negative net margin of 0.63%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 41.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.26) EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Lazard, Inc. will post 3.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 3rd. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.12%. Lazard's dividend payout ratio is currently -571.41%.

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.