Lazard, Inc. $LAZ Shares Bought by Osaic Holdings Inc.

Osaic Holdings Inc. raised its stake in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 348.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 38,415 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 29,843 shares during the period. Osaic Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Lazard were worth $1,728,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Teza Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Lazard by 2.4% during the second quarter. Teza Capital Management LLC now owns 8,059 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $387,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of Lazard by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 25,191 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,209,000 after purchasing an additional 302 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Lazard by 57.2% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 918 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 334 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its holdings in shares of Lazard by 30.2% during the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,943 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $93,000 after purchasing an additional 451 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC lifted its stake in shares of Lazard by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC now owns 46,592 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,235,000 after purchasing an additional 517 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LAZ has been the topic of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $46.00 price target on shares of Lazard and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Zacks Research cut Lazard from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. UBS Group assumed coverage on Lazard in a report on Thursday, December 11th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $54.00 price target for the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Lazard in a research report on Monday, December 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Lazard from $62.00 to $61.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Lazard presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $55.29.

Lazard Stock Performance

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

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. Lazard had a return on equity of 35.02% and a net margin of 8.89%.The company had revenue of $770.76 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $739.91 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.38 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 3rd were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 3rd. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 79.05%.

Lazard 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.