Rhumbline Advisers Grows Stock Holdings in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Rhumbline Advisers increased its stake in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 17.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 129,615 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 18,935 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers owned 0.11% of Lazard worth $4,949,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of LAZ. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC raised its stake in Lazard by 2.1% during the second quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 182,572 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $6,971,000 after buying an additional 3,742 shares during the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC increased its stake in Lazard by 22.2% in the 2nd quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 4,400 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $168,000 after buying an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new stake in Lazard during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $256,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lazard during the second quarter valued at approximately $150,000. Finally, Callahan Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Lazard by 26.6% in the second quarter. Callahan Advisors LLC now owns 43,195 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,649,000 after buying an additional 9,065 shares in the last quarter. 54.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lazard

In other Lazard news, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 207,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.23, for a total value of $9,362,610.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 1,729,722 shares in the company, valued at approximately $78,235,326.06. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Lazard news, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 46,107 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.19, for a total value of $1,853,040.33. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 1,936,722 shares in the company, valued at approximately $77,836,857.18. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 207,000 shares of Lazard stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.23, for a total transaction of $9,362,610.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 1,729,722 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $78,235,326.06. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 429,604 shares of company stock valued at $19,873,736. 3.86% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on LAZ shares. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of Lazard in a research note on Thursday. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $51.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Lazard from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $56.00 price objective (up previously from $49.00) on shares of Lazard in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Lazard from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Lazard presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $48.71.

Lazard Stock Up 3.6 %

LAZ opened at $47.77 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $46.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.66. Lazard, Inc. has a twelve month low of $25.82 and a twelve month high of $50.26. The company has a market cap of $5.39 billion, a PE ratio of -136.48 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a quick ratio of 1.94, a current ratio of 1.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.60.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The asset manager reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.17. Lazard had a return on equity of 41.78% and a net margin of 5.50%. The business had revenue of $685.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $625.40 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.24 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Lazard, Inc. will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 5th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 5th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.19%. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -571.41%.

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.