Hunter Perkins Capital Management LLC Sells 4,620 Shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Hunter Perkins Capital Management LLC trimmed its stake in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 12.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 31,320 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 4,620 shares during the period. Hunter Perkins Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Lazard were worth $1,612,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Berbice Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Lazard in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Lazard in the 3rd quarter worth $50,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in Lazard during the 4th quarter worth $60,000. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in Lazard by 54.1% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,813 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $196,000 after acquiring an additional 1,338 shares during the period. Finally, My Legacy Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Lazard in the third quarter valued at about $215,000. 54.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Lazard Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of Lazard stock opened at $54.06 on Monday. Lazard, Inc. has a 52-week low of $35.56 and a 52-week high of $61.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.10 billion, a PE ratio of 21.54 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72, a current ratio of 2.24 and a quick ratio of 2.24. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $53.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $50.60.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last posted 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). The business had revenue of $646.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $644.22 million. Lazard had a net margin of 8.28% and a return on equity of 42.20%. The business’s revenue was up 21.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.10 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Lazard, Inc. will post 2.06 EPS for the current year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.70%. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 79.68%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on LAZ. Wolfe Research downgraded Lazard from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of Lazard from $57.00 to $52.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. JMP Securities boosted their target price on shares of Lazard from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Lazard from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $60.00 to $63.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Lazard from $59.00 to $51.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.50.

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.