Sei Investments Co. Grows Holdings in Lazard, Inc. $LAZ

Sei Investments Co. increased its holdings in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 190.6% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 192,394 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 126,177 shares during the quarter. Sei Investments Co.’s holdings in Lazard were worth $8,172,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of LAZ. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Lazard by 13.5% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,807,320 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $427,685,000 after acquiring an additional 1,047,869 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in shares of Lazard by 9.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 2,456,726 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $119,299,000 after purchasing an additional 221,214 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Lazard by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,357,095 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $114,481,000 after purchasing an additional 6,429 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Lazard by 9.3% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,108,229 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $101,153,000 after buying an additional 180,244 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Lazard by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,929,435 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $93,693,000 after buying an additional 39,901 shares during the last quarter. 54.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on LAZ shares. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Lazard from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Argus lowered their price objective on Lazard from $63.00 to $52.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Citizens Jmp cut their target price on Lazard from $65.00 to $60.00 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 10th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $44.00 target price on shares of Lazard in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Lazard from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lazard currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $50.38.

Lazard Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE LAZ opened at $42.41 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $43.77 and its 200-day moving average price is $46.42. Lazard, Inc. has a 52-week low of $38.67 and a 52-week high of $58.75. The company has a market cap of $4.69 billion, a PE ratio of 20.79, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a quick ratio of 2.84, a current ratio of 2.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.12 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.34 by ($0.22). The company had revenue of $786.47 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $736.29 million. Lazard had a net margin of 6.95% and a return on equity of 23.58%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.52 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Lazard, Inc. will post 2.18 EPS for the current year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Investors of record on Monday, August 3rd will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 3rd. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.7%. Lazard’s payout ratio is presently 98.04%.

About Lazard

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.