Amundi Grows Stock Position in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Amundi grew its position in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ - Free Report) by 31,967.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 936,676 shares of the asset manager's stock after acquiring an additional 933,755 shares during the quarter. Amundi owned about 0.83% of Lazard worth $46,886,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Lazard by 10.1% during the third 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. State Street Corp lifted its position in Lazard by 2.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,948,167 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $98,149,000 after buying an additional 55,469 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Lazard by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,862,389 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $95,876,000 after buying an additional 90,152 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Lazard by 0.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,813,553 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $91,392,000 after buying an additional 15,151 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Lazard by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,156,749 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $59,549,000 after buying an additional 92,318 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.80% of the company's stock.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LAZ has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Lazard from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Lazard from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Lazard from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Lazard from $63.00 to $56.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Wolfe Research cut Lazard from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $54.17.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 25,000 shares of Lazard stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.32, for a total value of $1,383,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 163,448 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,041,943.36. This trade represents a 13.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 3.14% of the company's stock.

Lazard Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE LAZ traded up $0.05 during trading on Friday, reaching $44.98. The stock had a trading volume of 1,969,144 shares, compared to its average volume of 887,593. Lazard, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $35.56 and a fifty-two 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. The business's 50-day moving average price is $50.74 and its 200-day moving average price is $51.76. The company has a market cap of $5.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.91 and a beta of 1.41.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.45%. Lazard's payout ratio is presently 75.19%.

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.