Stocks of Lazard Asset Management in PLDT
Lazard Asset Management LLC, a US-based investment adviser, has raised its stake in Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) to 7.35 percent, or about 13.73 million shares from 11.28 million shares in 2010, a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) showed.
PLDT’s shares fell to P2,652 on Thursday from P2,776 the day before.
Based on the telco’s closing price, the estimated value of Lazard Asset’s stake is P36.41 billion.
Manuel V. Pangilinan, chairman of PLDT, earlier said that he expected to meet its P39 billion core net income target last year.
PLDT’s revised core net income target was lower than the previous guidance of P40.5 billion and 2010′s P42 billion.
The company’s core profit, which excludes foreign exchange gains or losses and other non-recurring income, fell by 6 percent year-on-year to P9.58 billion in the third quarter.
Partly owned by Hong Kong’s First Pacific Co. Ltd. and Japan’s NTT group, PLDT said consolidated net income fell by 10 percent to P9.32 billion in the July to September period last year from P10.31 billion in 2010
The sharp decline in the third quarter brought PLDT’s profit to P30.62 billion in the first nine months of the year, or 4 percent lower than the P31.99 billion last year.
Consolidated service revenues fell 2 percent to P34.24 billion in the July to September period from P35.07 billion in the previous year.