Bank of New York Mellon Corp Grows Holdings in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 12.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 278,877 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 31,211 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned 0.25% of Lazard worth $10,648,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Redwood Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Lazard during the 1st quarter worth $1,504,000. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lazard during the 1st quarter worth $1,126,000. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in shares of Lazard during the 1st quarter worth $6,733,000. Great Lakes Retirement Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Lazard during the 1st quarter worth $671,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in shares of Lazard by 169.0% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 262,003 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $10,970,000 after purchasing an additional 164,591 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Lazard from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $56.00 price target (up from $49.00) on shares of Lazard in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Lazard from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. One equities 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Lazard currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $48.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lazard

In other Lazard news, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 86,728 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.02, for a total value of $4,338,134.56. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 1,640,995 shares in the company, valued at approximately $82,082,569.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 86,728 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.02, for a total transaction of $4,338,134.56. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 1,640,995 shares in the company, valued at approximately $82,082,569.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 87,770 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.08, for a total transaction of $4,219,981.60. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 1,553,225 shares in the company, valued at $74,679,058. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 429,604 shares of company stock worth $19,873,736. Corporate insiders own 3.86% of the company’s stock.

Lazard Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LAZ opened at $46.91 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $5.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -135.05 and a beta of 1.39. Lazard, Inc. has a 52 week low of $25.82 and a 52 week high of $50.26. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $45.38 and its 200 day moving average price is $41.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.94, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.60.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The asset manager reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $685.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $625.40 million. Lazard had a net margin of 5.50% and a return on equity of 41.78%. The firm’s revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.24 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Lazard, Inc. will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 5th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 5th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.26%. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -571.41%.

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.