Raymond James Financial Inc. Purchases New Stake in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 44,388 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $2,285,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of LAZ. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Lazard during the 4th quarter worth approximately $59,962,000. Amundi raised its position in Lazard by 31,967.0% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 936,676 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $46,886,000 after purchasing an additional 933,755 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Lazard by 26.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,297,249 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $118,294,000 after purchasing an additional 483,696 shares during the period. FIL Ltd purchased a new position in Lazard during the 4th quarter worth $21,611,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Lazard by 128.4% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 678,617 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $34,935,000 after purchasing an additional 381,546 shares during the period. 54.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Lazard

In other Lazard news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 35,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.64, for a total transaction of $1,877,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 188,448 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,108,350.72. This represents a 15.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 64,539 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.56, for a total transaction of $2,940,396.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 170,285 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,758,184.60. The trade was a 27.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 189,078 shares of company stock valued at $9,120,541 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 3.86% of the company's stock.

Lazard Stock Performance

Shares of LAZ traded up $1.87 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $41.29. The stock had a trading volume of 1,013,722 shares, compared to its average volume of 954,720. The company has a quick ratio of 2.24, a current ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72. Lazard, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $31.97 and a fifty-two week high of $61.14. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $41.79 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $49.32. The company has a market cap of $4.66 billion, a PE ratio of 15.52 and a beta of 1.27.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The asset manager reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.27. Lazard had a return on equity of 44.58% and a net margin of 8.98%. The firm had revenue of $669.16 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $698.39 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.66 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 16th. Investors of record on Monday, May 5th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 5th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.84%. Lazard's payout ratio is currently 69.69%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Lazard from $51.00 to $44.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Lazard from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Lazard from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Lazard in a report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Lazard from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $56.00 to $33.00 in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $46.83.

Lazard Company 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.