Creative Planning Makes New Investment in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Creative Planning acquired a new stake in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 8,351 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $421,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of LAZ. Continuum Advisory LLC raised its stake in Lazard by 58.9% during the 2nd quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 890 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 330 shares during the period. Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd raised its position in shares of Lazard by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd now owns 18,392 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $702,000 after purchasing an additional 589 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lazard during the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. boosted its holdings in Lazard by 1,125.0% in the 2nd quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 735 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 675 shares during the period. Finally, 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. Institutional investors own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on LAZ shares. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on Lazard in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $51.00 price target for the company. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Lazard from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Lazard from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. StockNews.com cut shares of Lazard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Lazard from $59.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lazard presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lazard news, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 87,770 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.08, for a total value of $4,219,981.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly 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 document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 87,770 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.08, for a total transaction of $4,219,981.60. Following 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 86,728 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.02, for a total value of $4,338,134.56. Following 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 176,497 shares of company stock worth $8,658,086. 3.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Lazard Stock Down 3.7 %

NYSE LAZ opened at $58.78 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.42 and a beta of 1.38. Lazard, Inc. has a 52 week low of $25.82 and a 52 week high of $61.14. The company has a quick ratio of 1.94, a current ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72. The company has a fifty day moving average of $50.64 and a two-hundred day moving average of $44.84.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The asset manager reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by ($0.03). The company 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 42.20%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.10 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Lazard, Inc. will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.40%. Lazard’s payout ratio is currently 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.