Tower Research Capital LLC TRC Reduces Stock Position in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Tower Research Capital LLC TRC decreased its holdings in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 50.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,601 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,646 shares during the quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC’s holdings in Lazard were worth $56,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Lazard in the fourth quarter valued at $47,063,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its position in shares of Lazard by 265.0% during the 3rd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 791,158 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $24,740,000 after acquiring an additional 574,379 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG grew its holdings in shares of Lazard by 84.3% during the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,019,121 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $31,603,000 after purchasing an additional 466,301 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Lazard by 4.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,563,521 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $296,565,000 after purchasing an additional 436,034 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia increased its holdings in shares of Lazard by 150.3% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 531,900 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $18,509,000 after buying an additional 319,384 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Lazard Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:LAZ traded up $0.45 during trading on Monday, reaching $39.44. 977,103 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,176,167. The company has a current ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.51. Lazard, Inc. has a 52-week low of $25.82 and a 52-week high of $42.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -112.68 and a beta of 1.46. The business’s fifty day moving average is $39.37 and its 200-day moving average is $35.49.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The asset manager reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.08. Lazard had a negative net margin of 0.63% and a positive return on equity of 37.47%. The business had revenue of $765.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $678.57 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.26) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 41.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Lazard, Inc. will post 3.2 EPS for the current year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 17th. Investors of record on Monday, May 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 3rd. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.07%. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio is presently -571.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lazard

In related news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 75,000 shares of Lazard stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.35, for a total value of $2,951,250.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 227,448 shares in the company, valued at $8,950,078.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 3.14% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on LAZ. UBS Group lifted their price target on Lazard from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $49.00 target price (down previously from $51.00) on shares of Lazard in a research report on Friday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. TheStreet raised shares of Lazard from a “d+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $58.00 price objective on shares of Lazard in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.67.

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.