Victory Capital Management Inc. Raises Stock Position in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ - Free Report) by 8.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,156,749 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 92,318 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned approximately 1.03% of Lazard worth $59,549,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Keybank National Association OH raised its position in Lazard by 14.3% in the fourth quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 6,406 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $330,000 after acquiring an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its stake in shares of Lazard by 28.0% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,298 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $118,000 after purchasing an additional 503 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings 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. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. grew its position in Lazard by 8.4% during the fourth quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 28,113 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,447,000 after buying an additional 2,169 shares during the period. Finally, Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd purchased a new position in Lazard in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,647,000. 54.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Insider Transactions at Lazard

In related news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 25,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.32, for a total transaction of $1,383,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 163,448 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,041,943.36. This represents a 13.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 3.86% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on LAZ shares. Wolfe Research cut Lazard from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Lazard from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Lazard from $51.00 to $44.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Lazard from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $55.33.

Lazard Trading Up 2.7 %

NYSE LAZ traded up $1.30 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $48.91. 1,995,274 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,110,131. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $51.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $51.86. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $5.52 billion, a PE ratio of 18.39 and a beta of 1.41. Lazard, Inc. has a 1-year low of $35.56 and a 1-year high of $61.14.

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

Lazard Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.09%. Lazard's payout ratio is currently 75.19%.

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.