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May 1, 2025 |
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Before you invest, you may want to review the Portfolio’s Prospectus, which contains more information about the Portfolio and its risks. The Portfolio’s Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information (“SAI”), both dated May 1, 2025 (as revised or supplemented), are incorporated by reference into this Summary Prospectus. You can find the Portfolio’s Prospectus, SAI and other information about the Portfolio online at https://www.lazardassetmanagement.com/us/en_us/investment-solutions/how-to-invest/mutual-funds. You can also get this information at no cost by calling (800) 823-6300 or by sending an e-mail request to Contact.US@Lazard.com.
Lazard US Short Duration Fixed Income Portfolio | Institutional Shares | Open Shares | R6 Shares | ||
UMNIX | UMNOX | RLSDX |
Investment Objective
The Portfolio seeks total return and preservation of capital.
Fees and Expenses
This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Portfolio, a series of The Lazard Funds, Inc. (the “Fund”). You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and the Example below.
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| Institutional Shares |
| Open Shares |
| R6 Shares |
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Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment) |
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Management Fees |
| .25% |
| .25% |
| .25% |
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Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees |
| None |
| .25% |
| None |
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Other Expenses |
| .49% |
| 28.58% |
| .49% | 1 |
Total Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses |
| .74% |
| 29.08% |
| .74% |
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Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement2 |
| .34% |
| 28.43% |
| .39% |
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Total Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement |
| .40% |
| .65% |
| .35% |
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1 Based on estimated amounts for the current fiscal year, using amounts for Institutional Shares from the last fiscal year.
2 Reflects a contractual agreement by Lazard Asset Management LLC (the “Investment Manager”) to waive its fee and, if necessary, reimburse the Portfolio until May 1, 2026 for Institutional Shares and R6 Shares, and until May 1, 2035 for Open Shares, to the extent Total Annual Portfolio Operating Expenses exceed .40%, .65% and .35% of the average daily net assets of the Portfolio’s Institutional Shares, Open Shares and R6 Shares, respectively, exclusive of taxes, brokerage, interest on borrowings, fees and expenses of “Acquired Funds,” fees and expenses related to filing foreign tax reclaims and extraordinary expenses. This expense limitation agreement can only be amended by agreement of the Fund, upon approval by the Fund’s Board of Directors, and the Investment Manager to lower the net amount shown and will terminate automatically in the event of termination of the Management Agreement between the Investment Manager and the Fund, on behalf of the Portfolio.
Example
This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Portfolio with the cost of investing in other mutual funds.
The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Portfolio for the time periods indicated and then hold or redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Portfolio’s operating expenses remain the same, giving effect to the expense
limitation agreement described above. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
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| 1 year | 3 years | 5 years | 10 years |
Institutional Shares | $ 41 | $ 202 | $ 378 | $ 886 | |||
Open Shares | $ 66 | $ 208 | $ 362 | $ 810 | |||
R6 Shares | $ 36 | $ 197 | $ 373 | $ 882 | |||
Portfolio Turnover
The Portfolio pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Portfolio shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual portfolio operating expenses or in the Example, affect the Portfolio’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Portfolio’s portfolio turnover rate was 276% of the average value of its portfolio.
Principal Investment Strategies
Under normal circumstances, the Portfolio invests at least 80% of its assets in fixed-income securities of US issuers, including US government securities, corporate securities, mortgage-related and asset-backed securities, municipal securities, structured products, preferred stocks and inflation-indexed-securities. These securities may have any type of interest rate payment terms, including fixed rate, adjustable rate or zero coupon features. Under normal circumstances, the Portfolio’s investment portfolio can be expected to have an average effective duration of three years or less. Duration is an estimate of the sensitivity of the price (the value of principal) of a fixed-income security to a change in interest rates. Generally, the longer the duration, the higher the expected volatility. For example, the market price of a fixed-income security with a duration of three years would be expected to decline 3% if interest rates rose 1%. Conversely, the market price of the same security would be expected to increase 3% if interest rates fell 1%.
The Portfolio invests primarily in securities that are rated investment grade by one or more nationally recognized statistical rating organizations (or, if unrated, determined by the Investment Manager to be of comparable quality).
Securities are evaluated based on their fundamental and structural characteristics. Valuation analysis is tailored to the specific asset class, but may include credit research and analysis of features such as prepayment or call options, maturity, duration and coupon.
The Portfolio may invest up to 20% of its assets in other securities which need not be fixed-income securities of US issuers.
Principal Investment Risks
The value of your investment in the Portfolio will fluctuate, which means you could lose money.
Market Risk: The Portfolio may incur losses due to declines in one or more markets in which it invests. These declines may be the result of, among other things, political, regulatory, market, economic or social developments affecting the relevant market(s). To the extent that such developments impact specific industries, market sectors, countries or geographic regions, the Portfolio’s investments in such industries, market sectors, countries and/or geographic regions can be expected to be particularly affected, especially if such investments are a significant portion of its investment portfolio. In addition, turbulence in financial markets and reduced liquidity in equity, credit and/or fixed income markets may negatively affect many issuers, which could adversely affect the Portfolio. Global economies and financial markets are increasingly interconnected, and conditions and events in one country, region or financial market may adversely impact issuers worldwide. As a result, local, regional or global
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events such as war or military conflict, acts of terrorism, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issues, social unrest, natural disasters, extreme weather, other geological events, man-made disasters, supply chain disruptions, deflation, inflation, government defaults, government shutdowns, the imposition of sanctions or other similar measures, recessions or other events could have a significant negative impact on global economic and market conditions. For example, a public health or other emergency and aggressive responses taken by many governments or voluntarily imposed by private parties, including closing borders, restricting travel and imposing prolonged quarantines or similar restrictions, as well as the closure of, or operational changes to, many retail and other businesses, may have severe negative impacts on markets worldwide. Additionally, general market conditions may affect the value of a Portfolio’s securities, including changes in interest rates, currency rates or monetary policies. Furthermore, the imposition of tariffs, trade restrictions, currency restrictions or similar actions (or retaliatory measures taken in response to such actions), or the threat or potential of one or more such events and developments, could lead to price volatility and overall declines in the US and global investment markets.
Issuer Risk: The value of a security may decline for a number of reasons which directly relate to the issuer, such as management performance, financial leverage and reduced demand for the issuer’s goods or services, as well as the historical and prospective earnings of the issuer and the value of its assets or factors unrelated to the issuer’s value, such as investor perception.
Fixed-Income and Debt Securities Risk: The market value of a debt security may decline due to general market conditions that are not specifically related to a particular company, such as real or perceived adverse economic conditions, changes in the outlook for corporate earnings, changes in interest or currency rates or adverse investor sentiment generally. The debt securities market can be susceptible to increases in volatility and decreases in liquidity. Liquidity can decline unpredictably in response to overall economic conditions or credit tightening.
Prices of bonds and other debt securities tend to move inversely with changes in interest rates. Interest rate risk is usually greater for fixed-income securities with longer maturities or durations. A rise in interest rates (or the expectation of a rise in interest rates) may result in periods of volatility, decreased liquidity and increased redemptions, and, as a result, the Portfolio may have to liquidate portfolio securities at disadvantageous prices. The Portfolio may be subject to heightened interest rate risk because the Federal Reserve has raised, and may continue to raise, interest rates.
The Portfolio’s investments in lower-rated, higher-yielding securities (“junk bonds”) are subject to greater credit risk than its higher rated investments. Credit risk is the risk that the issuer will not make interest or principal payments, or will not make payments on a timely basis. Non-investment grade securities tend to be more volatile, less liquid and are considered speculative. If there is a decline, or perceived decline, in the credit quality of a debt security (or any guarantor of payment on such security), the security’s value could fall, potentially lowering the Portfolio’s share price. The prices of non-investment grade securities, unlike investment grade debt securities, may fluctuate unpredictably and not necessarily inversely with changes in interest rates. The market for these securities may be less liquid and therefore these securities may be harder to value or sell at an acceptable price, especially during times of market volatility or decline.
Adjustable rate securities provide the Portfolio with a certain degree of protection against rises in interest rates, although adjustable rate securities will participate in any declines in interest rates. Certain adjustable rate securities, such as those with interest rates that fluctuate directly or indirectly based on multiples of a stated index, are designed to be highly sensitive to changes in interest rates and can subject the holders thereof to extreme reductions of yield and possibly loss of principal. Certain fixed-income securities may be issued at a discount from their face value (such as zero coupon securities) or purchased at a price less than their stated face amount or at a price less than their issue price plus the portion of “original issue discount” previously accrued thereon, i.e., purchased at a “market discount.” The amount of original issue discount and/or market discount on certain obligations may be significant, and accretion of market discount together with original issue discount will cause the Portfolio to realize income prior to the receipt of cash payments with respect to these securities.
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Mortgage-Related and Asset-Backed Securities Risk: Mortgage-related securities are complex instruments, subject to both credit and prepayment risk, and may be more volatile and less liquid, and more difficult to price accurately, than more traditional debt securities. Mortgage-related securities generally are subject to credit risks associated with the performance of the underlying mortgage properties. Prepayment risk can lead to fluctuations in value of the mortgage-related security which may be pronounced. As with other interest-bearing securities, the prices of certain mortgage-related securities are inversely affected by changes in interest rates. However, although the value of a mortgage-related security may decline when interest rates rise, the converse is not necessarily true, since during periods of declining interest rates the mortgages underlying the security are more likely to be prepaid.
The risks of asset-backed securities are similar to those of mortgage-related securities. However, asset-backed securities present certain risks that are not presented by mortgage-related securities. Primarily, these securities may provide the Portfolio with a less effective security interest in the related collateral than do mortgage-related securities.
Structured Products Risk: Structured notes and other structured products are privately negotiated debt instruments where the principal and/or interest is determined by reference to a specified asset, market or rate, or the differential performance of two assets or markets. Structured products can have risks of both fixed-income securities and derivatives transactions. Derivatives transactions may increase volatility or reduce returns, perhaps substantially, particularly since most derivatives have a leverage component that provides investment exposure in excess of the amount invested, and they are subject to many of the risks of, and can be highly sensitive to changes in the value of, the related reference asset, market or rate. As such, a small investment could have a potentially large impact on the Portfolio’s performance. Use of derivatives transactions may cause the Portfolio to experience losses greater than if the Portfolio had not engaged in such transactions.
Preferred Securities Risk: There are various risks associated with investing in preferred securities. In addition, unlike common stock, participation in the growth of an issuer may be limited.
· Credit risk is the risk that a security held by the Portfolio will decline in price or the issuer of the security will fail to make dividend, interest or principal payments when due because the issuer experiences a decline in its financial status.
· Interest rate risk is the risk that securities will decline in value because of changes in market interest rates. When market interest rates rise, the market value of such securities generally will fall.
· Preferred securities may include provisions that permit the issuer, at its discretion, to defer or omit distributions for a stated period without any adverse consequences to the issuer.
· Preferred securities are generally subordinated to bonds and other debt instruments in an issuer’s capital structure in terms of having priority to corporate income, claims to corporate assets and liquidation payments, and therefore will be subject to greater credit risk than more senior debt instruments.
· During periods of declining interest rates, an issuer may be able to exercise an option to call, or redeem its issue at par earlier than the scheduled maturity. If this occurs during a time of lower or declining interest rates, the Portfolio may have to reinvest the proceeds in lower yielding securities (and the Portfolio may not benefit from any increase in the value of its portfolio holdings as a result of declining interest rates).
· Certain preferred securities may be substantially less liquid than many other securities, such as common stocks or US government securities. Illiquid securities involve the risk that the securities will not be able to be sold at the time desired by the Portfolio or at prices approximating the value at which the Portfolio is carrying the securities on its books.
High Portfolio Turnover Risk: The Portfolio’s investment strategy may involve high portfolio turnover (such as 100% or more). A portfolio turnover rate of 100%, for example, is equivalent to the Portfolio buying and selling all of its securities once during the course of the year. A high portfolio turnover rate could result in high transaction
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costs and an increase in taxable capital gains distributions to the Portfolio’s shareholders, which will reduce returns to shareholders.
Non-US Securities Risk: The Portfolio’s performance will be influenced by political, social and economic factors affecting the non-US countries and companies in which the Portfolio invests. Non-US securities carry special risks, such as less developed or less efficient trading markets, political instability, a lack of company information, differing auditing and legal standards, and, potentially, less liquidity. Non-US securities may be subject to economic sanctions or other governmental actions or developments, exchange controls (including repatriation restrictions), confiscations, trade restrictions (including tariffs) or problems related to share registration, trade settlement or asset custody, which could, among other things, effectively restrict or eliminate the Portfolio’s ability to purchase or sell certain foreign securities. To the extent the Portfolio holds securities subject to such actions, the securities may become difficult to value and/or less liquid (or illiquid). In some cases, the securities may become worthless. In addition, investments denominated in currencies other than US dollars may experience decline in value, in US dollar terms, due solely to fluctuations in currency exchange rates. Emerging market countries can generally have economic structures that are less diverse and mature, and political systems that are less stable, than those of developed countries.
Government Securities Risk: Not all obligations of the US government, its agencies and instrumentalities are backed by the full faith and credit of the US Treasury. Some obligations are backed only by the credit of the issuing agency or instrumentality, and in some cases there may be some risk of default by the issuer. Any guarantee by the US government or its agencies or instrumentalities of a security held by the Portfolio does not apply to the market value of such security or to shares of the Portfolio itself. A security backed by the US Treasury or the full faith and credit of the United States is guaranteed only as to the timely payment of interest and principal when held to maturity.
Performance
Bar Chart and Table
Year-by-Year Total Returns for Institutional
Shares
As of 12/31
The accompanying bar chart and table provide some indication of the risks of investing in Lazard US Short Duration Fixed Income Portfolio by showing the Portfolio’s year-by-year performance and its average annual performance compared to that of a broad measure of market performance. The bar chart shows how the performance of the Portfolio’s Institutional Shares has varied from year to year over the past 10 calendar years. Updated performance information is available at www.lazardassetmanagement.com or by calling (800) 823-6300. The Portfolio’s past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how the Portfolio will perform in the future.
Calendar Years ended December 31
Best Quarter: | |
2024, Q3 | 3.11% |
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Worst Quarter: | |
2022, Q1 | -1.62% |
Average Annual Total Returns
(for
the periods ended December 31, 2024)
After-tax returns are shown only for Institutional Shares. After-tax returns of the Portfolio’s other share classes will vary. After-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on the investor’s tax situation and
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may differ from those shown. The after-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold their shares through tax-deferred arrangements such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts. Returns shown below for the Portfolio’s R6 Shares (which were not operational as of December 31, 2024) reflect the performance of the Portfolio’s Institutional Shares. R6 Shares would have had substantially similar returns as Institutional Shares because the share classes are invested in the same portfolio of securities, and the returns would differ only to the extent that the classes do not have the same expenses.
| Inception | 1 Year | 5 Years | 10 Years |
Institutional Shares: | 2/28/2011 |
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Returns Before Taxes |
| 4.21% | 1.53% | 1.34% |
Returns After Taxes on Distributions |
| 2.60% | 0.71% | 0.63% |
Returns After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Portfolio Shares |
| 2.47% | 0.82% | 0.72% |
Open Shares (Returns Before Taxes) | 2/28/2011 | 3.95% | 1.31% | 1.18% |
R6 Shares (Returns Before Taxes) |
| 4.21% | 1.53% | 1.34% |
US Universal Index |
| 2.04% | 0.06% | 1.73% |
(reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes) |
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Bank of America Merrill Lynch 1-3 Year US Treasury Index |
| 4.08% | 1.40% | 1.40% |
(reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes) |
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Management
Investment Manager
Lazard Asset Management LLC
Portfolio Managers/Analysts
John R. Senesac, Jr., portfolio manager/analyst on the Investment Manager’s US Fixed Income team, has been with the Portfolio since February 2011.
Thomas Miller, portfolio manager/analyst on the Investment Manager’s US Fixed Income team, has been with the Portfolio since April 2021.
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Purchase and Sale of Portfolio Shares
The initial investment minimums are:
Institutional Shares*† | $ | 10,000 |
Open Shares* | $ | 2,500 |
R6 Shares† | $ | 1,000,000 |
* Unless the investor is a client of a securities dealer or other institution which has made an aggregate minimum initial purchase for its clients of at least $10,000 for Institutional Shares or $2,500 for Open Shares.
† There is no minimum investment amount for Board members and other individuals considered to be affiliates of the Fund or the Investment Manager and their family members, discretionary accounts with the Investment Manager, affiliated and non-affiliated registered investment companies and, for R6 Shares only, certain types of employee benefit plans.
The subsequent investment minimum is $50 for Institutional Shares and Open Shares. There is no subsequent investment minimum for R6 Shares.
Open Shares investors investing directly with a Portfolio who meet the Institutional Shares minimum may request that their Open Shares be converted to Institutional Shares. Investors investing through a securities dealer or other institution should consult that firm regarding share class availability and applicable minimums.
Portfolio shares are redeemable through the Fund’s transfer agent, SS&C GIDS, on any business day by telephone, mail or overnight delivery. Clients of financial intermediaries may be subject to the intermediaries’ procedures.
Tax Information
All dividends and short-term capital gains distributions are generally taxable to you as ordinary income, and long-term capital gains are generally taxable as such, whether you receive the distribution in cash or reinvest it in additional shares.
Financial
Intermediary Compensation (Open and Institutional Shares only)
Payments
to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries
If you purchase shares of a Portfolio through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the Portfolio and/or the Investment Manager and its affiliates may pay the intermediary for the sale of Portfolio shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Portfolio over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.
00078673 | |
Lazard Asset Management LLC • 30 Rockefeller Plaza • New York, NY 10112 • www.lazardassetmanagement.com |