State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Buys New Position in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D purchased a new position in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 45,956 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $1,755,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lazard in the first quarter valued at $25,000. Continuum Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in Lazard by 58.9% in the 2nd quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 890 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 330 shares in the last quarter. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Lazard in the 1st quarter valued at about $48,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Lazard during the second quarter valued at about $150,000. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Lazard by 22.2% during the second quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 4,400 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $168,000 after acquiring an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on LAZ. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Lazard from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Lazard from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of Lazard in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $51.00 price target for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $56.00 price target (up from $49.00) on shares of Lazard in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $49.29.

Lazard Trading Up 1.1 %

Lazard stock opened at $51.06 on Wednesday. Lazard, Inc. has a 12-month low of $25.82 and a 12-month high of $51.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.76 billion, a PE ratio of -145.89 and a beta of 1.39. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $47.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.60, a current ratio of 1.94 and a quick ratio of 1.94.

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

Lazard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 16th. Investors of record on Monday, August 5th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 5th. Lazard’s payout ratio is -571.43%.

Insider Transactions at Lazard

In related news, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 207,000 shares of Lazard stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.23, for a total transaction of $9,362,610.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 1,729,722 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $78,235,326.06. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Lazard news, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 207,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.23, for a total value of $9,362,610.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 1,729,722 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $78,235,326.06. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 1,999 shares of Lazard stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.01, for a total transaction of $99,969.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 1,727,723 shares in the company, valued at approximately $86,403,427.23. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 429,604 shares of company stock valued at $19,873,736 over the last three months. 3.86% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Lazard Company 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.