State of Alaska Department of Revenue Grows Position in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

State of Alaska Department of Revenue grew its position in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 5.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 157,415 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,250 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue owned approximately 0.14% of Lazard worth $8,103,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Claro Advisors LLC grew its stake in Lazard by 10,306.7% during the third quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 1,235,793 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $62,259,000 after buying an additional 1,223,918 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Lazard by 5,770.1% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,064,431 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $53,626,000 after acquiring an additional 1,046,298 shares in the last quarter. Azora Capital LP purchased a new stake in Lazard during the 3rd quarter worth $13,560,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Lazard by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,250,049 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $113,357,000 after purchasing an additional 206,295 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in Lazard in the 3rd quarter valued at $8,430,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Lazard Price Performance

Shares of LAZ stock opened at $54.57 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $52.49 and a two-hundred day moving average of $51.08. The firm has a market cap of $6.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.51 and a beta of 1.41. Lazard, Inc. has a 1-year low of $35.56 and a 1-year high of $61.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72, a current ratio of 2.24 and a quick ratio of 2.24.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.09. Lazard had a return on equity of 44.58% and a net margin of 8.98%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Lazard, Inc. will post 3.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.67%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 75.19%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on LAZ shares. UBS Group upped their target price on Lazard from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Lazard from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Lazard from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Lazard from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, JMP Securities lifted their price target on shares of Lazard from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.33.

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.