Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. Sells 8,596 Shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. reduced its holdings in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 65.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,500 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 8,596 shares during the quarter. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.’s holdings in Lazard were worth $231,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Lazard by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,948,167 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $98,149,000 after buying an additional 55,469 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Lazard by 128.4% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 678,617 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $34,935,000 after purchasing an additional 381,546 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Lazard by 2.2% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,772,237 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $89,285,000 after purchasing an additional 37,681 shares in the last quarter. Monument Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of Lazard during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,809,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Lazard by 5,770.1% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,064,431 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $53,626,000 after purchasing an additional 1,046,298 shares in the last quarter. 54.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lazard

In other Lazard news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.32, for a total transaction of $1,383,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 163,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,041,943.36. The trade was a 13.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 3.14% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Lazard Stock Down 0.4 %

LAZ stock opened at $45.83 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.23 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72, a current ratio of 2.24 and a quick ratio of 2.24. Lazard, Inc. has a 1-year low of $35.56 and a 1-year high of $61.14. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $50.95 and a 200-day moving average price of $51.83.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.09. Lazard had a return on equity of 44.58% and a net margin of 8.98%. Equities analysts forecast that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.36%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 75.19%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on LAZ. StockNews.com upgraded Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Lazard from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Lazard from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Wolfe Research cut Lazard from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Lazard from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $55.33.

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.