JPMorgan Chase & Co. Sells 288,220 Shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. trimmed its position in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 60.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 189,245 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 288,220 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned approximately 0.17% of Lazard worth $9,534,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of LAZ. Rhumbline Advisers grew its stake in Lazard by 17.1% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 129,615 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,949,000 after purchasing an additional 18,935 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Lazard by 22.0% during the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 18,133 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $692,000 after acquiring an additional 3,265 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Lazard in the second quarter valued at $211,000. Choreo LLC bought a new position in shares of Lazard in the 2nd quarter valued at about $372,000. Finally, State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D acquired a new position in shares of Lazard during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,755,000. 54.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of Lazard from $57.00 to $52.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. StockNews.com cut shares of Lazard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. UBS Group upped their target price on Lazard from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Wolfe Research cut Lazard from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, JMP Securities upped their price objective on Lazard from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.17.

Lazard Price Performance

Lazard stock opened at $45.76 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $5.16 billion, a PE ratio of 18.23 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72, a current ratio of 2.24 and a quick ratio of 2.24. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $54.02 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $49.83. Lazard, Inc. has a one year low of $35.56 and a one year high of $61.14.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last issued its quarterly 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). Lazard had a return on equity of 42.20% and a net margin of 8.28%. The company had revenue of $646.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $644.22 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.10 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Lazard, Inc. will post 2.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Lazard’s payout ratio is 79.68%.

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.