Lee Danner & Bass Inc. Buys Shares of 600 Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Lee Danner & Bass Inc. purchased a new position in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 600 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $31,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in Lazard in the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Lazard during the fourth quarter valued at about $46,000. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Lazard during the fourth quarter valued at about $53,000. AlphaQuest LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Lazard by 85.8% during the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 1,137 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 525 shares during the period. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Lazard during the fourth quarter worth about $60,000. Institutional investors own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on LAZ. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Lazard from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Lazard from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Lazard from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Lazard from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $54.17.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 35,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.64, for a total value of $1,877,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 188,448 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,108,350.72. This trade represents a 15.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 64,539 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.24, for a total transaction of $2,919,744.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 234,824 shares in the company, valued at $10,623,437.76. This represents a 21.56 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 189,078 shares of company stock worth $9,120,541. 3.86% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Lazard Price Performance

Shares of LAZ opened at $45.91 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.26 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a quick ratio of 2.24, a current ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $50.39 and a 200 day moving average of $51.67. Lazard, Inc. has a twelve month low of $35.56 and a twelve month high of $61.14.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.09. Lazard had a net margin of 8.98% and a return on equity of 44.58%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

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

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.