International Assets Investment Management LLC Grows Stake in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ - Free Report) by 1,165.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 176,491 shares of the asset manager's stock after buying an additional 162,549 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC owned about 0.16% of Lazard worth $6,142,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sweet Financial Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Lazard by 41.7% during the 4th quarter. Sweet Financial Partners LLC now owns 17,000 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $592,000 after purchasing an additional 5,000 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Lazard by 0.4% in 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 during the last quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lifted its stake in Lazard by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 87,700 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $2,720,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new position in shares of Lazard during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,538,000. Finally, Crestwood Advisors Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lazard during the third quarter valued at about $3,474,000. 54.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Lazard Trading Up 0.5 %

Lazard stock traded up $0.18 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $39.01. The stock had a trading volume of 500,301 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,124,692. The company has a quick ratio of 1.89, a current ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.13. Lazard, Inc. has a 52-week low of $25.82 and a 52-week high of $42.24. The firm has a market cap of $4.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -111.46 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a fifty day moving average of $39.44 and a 200 day moving average of $35.96.

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

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 17th. Investors of record on Monday, May 6th will be given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.13%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 3rd. Lazard's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -571.43%.

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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 227,448 shares in the company, 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 corporate insiders.

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.