JPMorgan Chase & Co. Has $9.53 Million Stock Position in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased its holdings in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ - Free Report) by 60.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 189,245 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 288,220 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned about 0.17% of Lazard worth $9,534,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Claro Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Lazard by 10,306.7% in the third quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 1,235,793 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $62,259,000 after purchasing an additional 1,223,918 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake 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 valued at $53,626,000 after acquiring an additional 1,046,298 shares during the last quarter. Azora Capital LP acquired a new stake in shares of Lazard in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $13,560,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 206,295 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in Lazard during the 3rd quarter worth $8,430,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.80% of the company's stock.

Lazard Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of NYSE:LAZ traded up $1.00 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $46.78. The stock had a trading volume of 1,324,701 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,042,200. The company has a quick ratio of 2.24, a current ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $53.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $49.89. Lazard, Inc. has a 12 month low of $35.56 and a 12 month high of $61.14. The company has a market cap of $5.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.64 and a beta of 1.40.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The asset manager reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.41 by ($0.03). Lazard had a return on equity of 42.20% and a net margin of 8.28%. The firm had revenue of $646.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $644.22 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.10 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 21.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Lazard, Inc. will post 2.18 earnings per share 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 paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.28%. Lazard's dividend payout ratio is currently 79.68%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on Lazard from $57.00 to $52.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Lazard from $59.00 to $51.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Lazard from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. StockNews.com downgraded Lazard from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut Lazard from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $60.00 to $63.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $53.17.

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.