O Brien Greene & Co. Inc Acquires 500 Shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

O Brien Greene & Co. Inc raised its stake in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 27,000 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the quarter. O Brien Greene & Co. Inc’s holdings in Lazard were worth $1,390,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted 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 buying an additional 1,046,298 shares during the last quarter. Azora Capital LP purchased a new stake in Lazard during the third quarter valued at approximately $13,560,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Lazard by 10.1% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,250,049 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $113,357,000 after acquiring an additional 206,295 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in Lazard in the third quarter worth $8,430,000. Finally, Castleark Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lazard during the third quarter worth $5,634,000. 54.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.32, for a total transaction of $1,383,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 163,448 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,041,943.36. This trade represents a 13.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 3.86% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Lazard Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE LAZ opened at $53.95 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $52.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $51.61. The stock has a market cap of $6.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.28 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a current ratio of 2.24, a quick ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72. Lazard, Inc. has a 12 month low of $35.56 and a 12 month high of $61.14.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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, analysts predict that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.71%. Lazard’s payout ratio is 75.19%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on LAZ. JMP Securities raised their price objective on Lazard from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Wolfe Research downgraded Lazard from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Lazard from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price 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. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of Lazard from $51.00 to $44.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Lazard presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $55.33.

About Lazard

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.