BNP Paribas Financial Markets Raises Holdings in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ - Free Report) by 368.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 97,412 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 76,637 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets owned about 0.09% of Lazard worth $3,390,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in LAZ. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its stake 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 purchasing an additional 574,379 shares during the period. UBS Group AG raised its stake 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 purchasing an additional 466,301 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Lazard by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,563,521 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $296,565,000 after purchasing an additional 436,034 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia bought a new stake in Lazard in the 3rd quarter valued at about $6,590,000. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. raised its stake in Lazard by 52.1% in the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 524,852 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $16,276,000 after acquiring an additional 179,708 shares during the period. 54.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $58.00 price objective on shares of Lazard in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. TheStreet upgraded Lazard from a "d+" rating to a "c+" rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. StockNews.com upgraded Lazard from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $49.00 price objective (down from $51.00) on shares of Lazard in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on Lazard from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. One 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 data from MarketBeat.com, Lazard currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $45.67.

Insider Transactions 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 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 3.86% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Lazard Price Performance

LAZ stock traded down $0.13 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $40.63. 525,025 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,069,927. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.13, a current ratio of 1.89 and a quick ratio of 1.89. The company has a market capitalization of $4.58 billion, a P/E ratio of -116.08 and a beta of 1.46. Lazard, Inc. has a 52-week low of $25.82 and a 52-week high of $42.24. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $39.61 and a 200-day moving average price of $36.79.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The asset manager reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.08. Lazard had a positive return on equity of 37.27% and a negative net margin of 0.63%. The company had revenue of $765.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $678.57 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.26) earnings per share. Lazard's revenue was up 41.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Lazard, Inc. will post 3.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 6th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 3rd. Lazard's payout ratio is -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.