International Assets Investment Management LLC Acquires 13,682 Shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 348.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,604 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,682 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Lazard were worth $887,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Lazard by 1.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,678,365 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $447,103,000 after purchasing an additional 152,857 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Lazard by 4.1% in the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,043,754 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $78,031,000 after acquiring an additional 79,889 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC bought a new stake in shares of Lazard in the first quarter valued at about $65,650,000. Claro Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Lazard by 10,306.7% in the third quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 1,235,793 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $62,259,000 after acquiring an additional 1,223,918 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. raised its holdings in Lazard by 7.3% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 651,521 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $24,875,000 after purchasing an additional 44,151 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Lazard Stock Performance

NYSE LAZ opened at $52.45 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $5.91 billion, a PE ratio of 20.90 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.94, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.60. Lazard, Inc. has a twelve month low of $25.82 and a twelve month high of $54.72. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $50.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $44.52.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The asset manager reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $646.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $644.22 million. Lazard had a net margin of 8.28% and a return on equity of 46.55%. The business’s revenue was up 21.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.10 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Lazard, Inc. will post 2.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th will be given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio is currently 79.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lazard

In related news, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 86,728 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.02, for a total transaction of $4,338,134.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 1,640,995 shares in the company, valued at $82,082,569.90. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Lazard news, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 87,770 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.08, for a total value of $4,219,981.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 1,553,225 shares in the company, valued at approximately $74,679,058. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 86,728 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.02, for a total value of $4,338,134.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 1,640,995 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $82,082,569.90. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 176,497 shares of company stock valued at $8,658,086 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 3.86% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Lazard from $59.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Lazard from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Lazard from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. JMP Securities increased their price objective on Lazard from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Lazard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.00.

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.