Alps Advisors Inc. Acquires New Holdings in Lazard, Inc. $LAZ

Alps Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 89,892 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $4,744,000. Alps Advisors Inc. owned about 0.08% of Lazard as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ranger Investment Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Lazard by 15.7% during the 3rd quarter. Ranger Investment Management L.P. now owns 584,890 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $30,870,000 after acquiring an additional 79,505 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Lazard in the third quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Lazard in the third quarter worth $2,920,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its stake in Lazard by 27.7% in the 3rd quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 4,680 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $253,000 after buying an additional 1,016 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans acquired a new position in Lazard in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,775,000. 54.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LAZ has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Lazard from $61.00 to $59.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Bank of America began coverage on Lazard in a research report on Monday, January 26th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $65.00 price target on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Lazard in a report on Monday, December 29th. Citigroup reissued a “market outperform” rating on shares of Lazard in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Lazard from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $57.13.

Lazard Price Performance

Shares of LAZ stock opened at $56.96 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $51.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $52.04. Lazard, Inc. has a one year low of $31.97 and a one year high of $58.07. The firm has a market cap of $6.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.13, a P/E/G ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 1.38. 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 (NYSE:LAZ) last issued 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 period last year, the business earned $0.78 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 9th. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio is currently 91.74%.

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.