Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Has $2 Million Holdings in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio decreased its holdings in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 39,751 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,980 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in Lazard were worth $2,003,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of LAZ. Claro Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Lazard by 10,306.7% during the 3rd 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 period. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted 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 worth $53,626,000 after purchasing an additional 1,046,298 shares during the last quarter. Azora Capital LP acquired a new stake in shares of Lazard during the third quarter worth $13,560,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Lazard by 10.1% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,250,049 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $113,357,000 after purchasing an additional 206,295 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in Lazard in the second quarter valued at about $7,102,000. 54.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Lazard Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LAZ opened at $52.74 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $54.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $48.01. The firm has a market cap of $5.95 billion, a PE ratio of 20.78 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a current ratio of 2.24, a quick ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72. Lazard, Inc. has a 1-year low of $34.25 and a 1-year high of $61.14.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The asset manager reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.41 by ($0.03). Lazard had a return on equity of 42.20% and a net margin of 8.28%. The firm had revenue of $646.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $644.22 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.10 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 21.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Lazard, Inc. will post 2.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.79%. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 79.68%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on LAZ shares. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on Lazard in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $51.00 target price for the company. JMP Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Lazard from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Lazard from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Lazard from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $60.00 to $63.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Lazard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.43.

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.