Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. Invests $935,000 in Lazard, Inc. $LAZ

Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 17,710 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $935,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LAZ. Costello Asset Management INC acquired a new stake in shares of Lazard in the third quarter worth $37,000. State of Wyoming bought a new stake in Lazard in the 2nd quarter valued at $38,000. Bessemer Group Inc. bought a new stake in Lazard in the 3rd quarter valued at $50,000. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in Lazard in the 2nd quarter worth $49,000. Finally, Westfuller Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Lazard during the 3rd quarter worth about $83,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on LAZ. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $59.00 target price on shares of Lazard in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Lazard in a report on Monday, December 29th. Citigroup reiterated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Lazard in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Zacks Research lowered Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Lazard from $61.00 to $59.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $57.13.

Lazard Stock Up 0.5%

NYSE LAZ opened at $52.26 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.58, a quick ratio of 2.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.92. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $51.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $52.06. The company has a market capitalization of $5.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.97, a PEG ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 1.38. Lazard, Inc. has a 1-year low of $31.97 and a 1-year high of $58.75.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The asset manager reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $892.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $876.32 million. Lazard had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 7.49%.Lazard’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.78 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 9th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 9th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 91.74%.

Lazard Profile

Lazard Ltd. (NYSE: LAZ) is a leading global financial advisory and asset management firm, offering a comprehensive suite of services to corporations, governments and individuals. Founded in 1848, Lazard has built a reputation for providing independent advice and innovative solutions in complex financial transactions. The firm is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol LAZ and maintains its headquarters in Hamilton, Bermuda.

In its Financial Advisory segment, Lazard assists clients with mergers and acquisitions, restructurings, capital structure optimization and strategic planning.