Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) CEO Peter Richard Orszag Sells 64,539 Shares

Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 64,539 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.56, for a total value of $2,940,396.84. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 170,285 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,758,184.60. The trade was a 27.48 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Peter Richard Orszag also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, March 14th, Peter Richard Orszag sold 64,539 shares of Lazard stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.24, for a total value of $2,919,744.36.

Lazard Stock Up 0.9 %

LAZ stock opened at $46.54 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72, a current ratio of 2.24 and a quick ratio of 2.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.50 and a beta of 1.41. Lazard, Inc. has a 52-week low of $35.56 and a 52-week high of $61.14. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $50.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $51.69.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) 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 EPS for the current year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.30%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio is currently 75.19%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lazard

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Lazard during the fourth quarter worth approximately $59,962,000. Amundi lifted its position in Lazard by 31,967.0% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 936,676 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $46,886,000 after buying an additional 933,755 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Lazard by 98.7% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,284,711 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $66,137,000 after buying an additional 638,169 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Lazard by 335.1% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 734,962 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $37,836,000 after acquiring an additional 566,051 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Lazard by 26.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,297,249 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $118,294,000 after acquiring an additional 483,696 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LAZ has been the subject of several research reports. StockNews.com raised Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Lazard from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective 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. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Lazard from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Lazard from $63.00 to $56.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $54.17.

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.