Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Acquires Shares of 33,642 Lazard, Inc. $LAZ

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans acquired a new stake in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 33,642 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $1,775,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Lazard by 131.8% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 12,563 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $544,000 after buying an additional 7,144 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Lazard by 27.5% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 759,867 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $32,902,000 after acquiring an additional 163,983 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its position in shares of Lazard by 8.4% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 238,288 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $10,318,000 after acquiring an additional 18,444 shares during the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS grew its holdings in shares of Lazard by 8.7% in the second quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 18,700 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $897,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC grew its holdings in shares of Lazard by 16.2% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 22,726 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,090,000 after purchasing an additional 3,168 shares in the last quarter. 54.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LAZ has been the subject of several research reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Lazard from $61.00 to $59.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $46.00 target price on shares of Lazard and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Lazard in a research note on Monday, December 29th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $59.00 price objective on shares of Lazard in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Lazard from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $57.13.

Lazard Trading Down 3.6%

Shares of NYSE LAZ opened at $54.92 on Thursday. Lazard, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $31.97 and a fifty-two week high of $58.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 2.58 and a current ratio of 2.58. The company has a market cap of $6.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.19, a PEG ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 1.38. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $51.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $52.08.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The asset manager reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.12. Lazard had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 7.49%.The company had revenue of $892.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $876.32 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.78 EPS. Lazard’s revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 20th. Investors of record on Monday, February 9th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 9th. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 91.74%.

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.