Amundi Has $46.89 Million Stock Position in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Amundi lifted its position in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 31,967.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 936,676 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 933,755 shares during the period. Amundi’s holdings in Lazard were worth $46,886,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in LAZ. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Lazard by 5,770.1% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,064,431 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $53,626,000 after buying an additional 1,046,298 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Lazard by 128.4% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 678,617 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $34,935,000 after buying an additional 381,546 shares in the last quarter. Azora Capital LP bought a new stake in shares of Lazard in the 3rd quarter valued at $13,560,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Lazard by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,250,049 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $113,357,000 after buying an additional 206,295 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Lazard in the 3rd quarter valued at $8,430,000. Institutional investors own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.32, for a total value of $1,383,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 163,448 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,041,943.36. This trade represents a 13.27 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 3.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Lazard from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on Lazard from $51.00 to $44.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Lazard from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group increased their target price on Lazard from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Lazard from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $55.33.

Lazard Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LAZ opened at $45.83 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.23 and a beta of 1.41. The business has a 50-day moving average of $50.95 and a 200-day moving average of $51.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72, a current ratio of 2.24 and a quick ratio of 2.24. Lazard, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $35.56 and a fifty-two week high of $61.14.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.09. Lazard had a return on equity of 44.58% and a net margin of 8.98%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.36%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Lazard’s payout ratio is 75.19%.

About Lazard

Lazard, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a financial advisory and asset management firm in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Australia. It operates in two segments, Financial Advisory and Asset Management. The Financial Advisory segment offers financial advisory services, such as mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, shareholder, sovereign, geopolitical advisory, and other strategic advisory services, as well as restructuring and liability management, and capital raising and placement services.