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

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lowered its stake in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 4.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 39,751 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,980 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in Lazard were worth $2,003,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in LAZ. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Lazard by 8.1% in the 2nd quarter. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. now owns 19,018 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $726,000 after acquiring an additional 1,424 shares during the period. Everhart Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Lazard during the second quarter worth $222,000. Amica Mutual Insurance Co. bought a new stake in Lazard in the 2nd quarter valued at $5,700,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Lazard by 12.6% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 278,877 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $10,648,000 after buying an additional 31,211 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank bought a new position in shares of Lazard during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,089,000. Institutional investors own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on LAZ shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Lazard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley lowered Lazard from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $60.00 to $63.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Lazard from $59.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group upped their price target on Lazard from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on Lazard in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $51.00 price objective for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.43.

Lazard Stock Performance

Lazard stock opened at $52.74 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $54.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $48.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.78 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a quick ratio of 2.24, a current ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72. Lazard, Inc. has a 12-month low of $34.25 and a 12-month high of $61.14.

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

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.79%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio is 79.68%.

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.