My Legacy Advisors LLC Boosts Holdings in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

My Legacy Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 29.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 5,527 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,255 shares during the quarter. My Legacy Advisors LLC’s holdings in Lazard were worth $275,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Lazard in the third quarter worth approximately $50,000. King Wealth Management Group bought a new position in shares of Lazard in the third quarter worth approximately $227,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Lazard in the third quarter worth approximately $235,000. US Bancorp DE grew its holdings in shares of Lazard by 2,053.6% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 5,104 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $257,000 after purchasing an additional 4,867 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Impact Partnership Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Lazard in the third quarter worth approximately $267,000. 54.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Lazard Stock Performance

Shares of LAZ stock opened at $51.06 on Monday. Lazard, Inc. has a 12 month low of $35.56 and a 12 month high of $61.14. The stock has a market cap of $5.76 billion, a PE ratio of 20.34 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a current ratio of 2.24, a quick ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $53.34 and its 200-day moving average price is $50.12.

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). Lazard had a net margin of 8.28% and a return on equity of 42.20%. The business had revenue of $646.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $644.22 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.10 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 21.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Lazard, Inc. will post 2.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 79.68%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on LAZ shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Lazard from $59.00 to $51.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com cut shares of Lazard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Lazard from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $60.00 to $63.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. JMP Securities lifted their price target on shares of Lazard from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Wolfe Research cut shares of Lazard from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Lazard has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.50.

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.