Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Has $3.52 Million Stock Holdings in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky grew its holdings in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 15.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 101,200 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 13,500 shares during the quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky owned 0.09% of Lazard worth $3,522,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in LAZ. Truist Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Lazard by 14.6% during the 4th quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 8,114 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $282,000 after purchasing an additional 1,031 shares in the last quarter. Numerai GP LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Lazard during the 3rd quarter worth about $339,000. Trexquant Investment LP acquired a new stake in shares of Lazard during the 4th quarter worth about $354,000. Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Lazard during the 4th quarter worth about $383,000. Finally, Commerce Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Lazard during the 4th quarter worth about $493,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Lazard Stock Up 2.1 %

Shares of NYSE LAZ opened at $37.67 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.25 billion, a PE ratio of -107.63 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a current ratio of 1.89, a quick ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.13. Lazard, Inc. has a 1 year low of $25.82 and a 1 year high of $42.24. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $39.18 and its 200-day moving average is $38.31.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The asset manager reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $765.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $678.57 million. Lazard had a negative net margin of 0.63% and a positive return on equity of 37.27%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 41.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.26) EPS. Equities analysts expect that Lazard, Inc. will post 3.03 EPS for the current year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 17th. Investors of record on Monday, May 6th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.31%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 3rd. Lazard’s payout ratio is -571.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 6,762 shares of Lazard stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.00, for a total transaction of $270,480.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 1,982,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $79,313,160. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 6,762 shares of Lazard stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.00, for a total transaction of $270,480.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 1,982,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $79,313,160. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 154,131 shares of Lazard stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.21, for a total transaction of $6,197,607.51. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 1,989,591 shares in the company, valued at approximately $80,001,454.11. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on LAZ. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $58.00 target price on shares of Lazard in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $49.00 price objective (down previously from $51.00) on shares of Lazard in a research report on Friday, April 26th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Lazard from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $45.67.

Lazard Profile

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.