Victory Capital Management Inc. Purchases 1,046,298 Shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 5,770.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,064,431 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,046,298 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned approximately 0.94% of Lazard worth $53,626,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Janus Henderson Group PLC acquired a new stake in Lazard in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $65,650,000. Claro Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Lazard by 10,306.7% in the third quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 1,235,793 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $62,259,000 after acquiring an additional 1,223,918 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Lazard by 10.1% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,250,049 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $113,357,000 after acquiring an additional 206,295 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in Lazard during the 2nd quarter valued at $7,102,000. Finally, Swedbank AB bought a new stake in Lazard in the 1st quarter valued at $6,733,000. 54.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Lazard

In other news, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 86,728 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.02, for a total transaction of $4,338,134.56. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 1,640,995 shares in the company, valued at approximately $82,082,569.90. This represents a 5.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders sold 176,497 shares of company stock valued at $8,658,086 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.86% of the company’s stock.

Lazard Stock Performance

Lazard stock opened at $55.76 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.33 and a beta of 1.38. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $51.26 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $45.38. Lazard, Inc. has a 52-week low of $26.25 and a 52-week high of $61.14. 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 (NYSE:LAZ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The asset manager reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $646.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $644.22 million. Lazard had a return on equity of 42.20% and a net margin of 8.28%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.10 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Lazard, Inc. will post 2.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.59%. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 79.68%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on LAZ. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of Lazard in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $51.00 price objective for the company. JMP Securities raised their price objective on Lazard from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Lazard from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Lazard from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Lazard from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.00.

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.