Osaic Holdings Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Lazard, Inc. $LAZ

Osaic Holdings Inc. grew its stake in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 348.1% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 38,415 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 29,843 shares during the quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Lazard were worth $1,728,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC grew its holdings in Lazard by 12.3% in the 2nd quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC now owns 26,242 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,259,000 after buying an additional 2,867 shares in the last quarter. Ranger Investment Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of Lazard by 43.5% during the 2nd quarter. Ranger Investment Management L.P. now owns 505,385 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $24,248,000 after acquiring an additional 153,150 shares during the last quarter. State of Wyoming acquired a new position in shares of Lazard during the 2nd quarter valued at about $38,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Lazard by 324.4% in the second quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC now owns 2,962 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $142,000 after purchasing an additional 2,264 shares during the period. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its position in Lazard by 30.2% during the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,943 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $93,000 after purchasing an additional 451 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on LAZ. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Lazard from $62.00 to $61.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of Lazard in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. They set a “market perform” rating and a $56.00 price target for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $46.00 price target on shares of Lazard and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Lazard in a research report on Monday, December 22nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Lazard from $58.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Lazard presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $55.29.

Lazard Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of LAZ opened at $49.55 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $49.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $51.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 2.58 and a current ratio of 2.58. Lazard, Inc. has a 1 year low of $31.97 and a 1 year high of $58.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.59 billion, a PE ratio of 19.58 and a beta of 1.40.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 23rd. The asset manager reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $770.76 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $739.91 million. Lazard had a net margin of 8.89% and a return on equity of 35.02%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.38 earnings per share. Analysts forecast 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, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 3rd were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 3rd. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.0%. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio is currently 79.05%.

Lazard Company Profile

Lazard Ltd. (NYSE: LAZ) is a leading global financial advisory and asset management firm, offering a comprehensive suite of services to corporations, governments and individuals. Founded in 1848, Lazard has built a reputation for providing independent advice and innovative solutions in complex financial transactions. The firm is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol LAZ and maintains its headquarters in Hamilton, Bermuda.

In its Financial Advisory segment, Lazard assists clients with mergers and acquisitions, restructurings, capital structure optimization and strategic planning.