Principal Securities Inc. Has $81,000 Holdings in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Principal Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 153.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,569 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 950 shares during the quarter. Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings in Lazard were worth $81,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of LAZ. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Lazard by 5,770.1% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,064,431 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $53,626,000 after acquiring an additional 1,046,298 shares in the last quarter. Azora Capital LP acquired a new position in Lazard during the 3rd quarter worth $13,560,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Lazard by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,250,049 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $113,357,000 after buying an additional 206,295 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in Lazard during the 3rd quarter worth $8,430,000. Finally, Castleark Management LLC acquired a new position in Lazard during the 3rd quarter worth $5,634,000. 54.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group upped their price objective on Lazard from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective 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 downgraded Lazard from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Lazard from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, JMP Securities upped their target price on shares of Lazard from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.33.

Lazard Stock Performance

Shares of Lazard stock opened at $49.54 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $51.80 and a two-hundred day moving average of $51.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.62 and a beta of 1.41. Lazard, Inc. has a 52 week low of $35.56 and a 52 week high of $61.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.24 and a current ratio of 2.24.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.09. Lazard had a net margin of 8.98% and a return on equity of 44.58%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 EPS for the current year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio is currently 75.19%.

Insider Activity at Lazard

In related news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 35,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.64, for a total value of $1,877,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 188,448 shares in the company, valued at $10,108,350.72. This represents a 15.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 3.86% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.