Fisher Asset Management LLC Boosts Holdings in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 5.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,862,389 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 90,152 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC owned approximately 1.65% of Lazard worth $95,876,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its stake in shares of Lazard by 8.4% during the fourth quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 28,113 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,447,000 after purchasing an additional 2,169 shares during the period. Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Lazard during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,647,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Lazard by 128.4% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 678,617 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $34,935,000 after purchasing an additional 381,546 shares during the period. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Lazard by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 184,965 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $9,522,000 after purchasing an additional 738 shares during the period. Finally, Paradigm Asset Management Co. LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lazard during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $674,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.32, for a total transaction of $1,383,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 163,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,041,943.36. The trade was a 13.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 3.86% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LAZ has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Lazard from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Lazard from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of Lazard from $51.00 to $44.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Lazard from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lazard presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.33.

Lazard Stock Performance

Lazard stock opened at $50.24 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $5.67 billion, a PE ratio of 18.89 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $51.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price 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 12 month low of $35.56 and a 12 month high of $61.14.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.09. Lazard had a net margin of 8.98% and a return on equity of 44.58%. Research analysts expect that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.