California State Teachers Retirement System Increases Position in Lazard, Inc. $LAZ

California State Teachers Retirement System grew its position in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 25.5% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 112,209 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 22,766 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Lazard were worth $4,767,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Lazard Price Performance

LAZ stock opened at $44.09 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.84, a quick ratio of 2.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. The company has a market capitalization of $4.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.61, a PEG ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 1.43. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $46.16. Lazard, Inc. has a twelve month low of $38.67 and a twelve month high of $58.75.

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

Lazard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 3rd. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 98.04%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on LAZ shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “sell” rating on shares of Lazard in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Citizens Jmp reduced their price objective on shares of Lazard from $65.00 to $60.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Zacks Research cut shares of Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $44.00 target price on shares of Lazard in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. Finally, Argus dropped their target price on shares of Lazard from $63.00 to $52.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $50.38.

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.