FIL Ltd Purchases Shares of 419,799 Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

FIL Ltd acquired a new position in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 419,799 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $21,611,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. bought a new position in Lazard in the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Lazard in the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Lazard in the fourth quarter worth about $46,000. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lazard during the fourth quarter worth about $53,000. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC grew its position 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 in the last quarter. 54.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Lazard from $51.00 to $44.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Lazard from $44.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. JMP Securities cut their target price on shares of Lazard from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered Lazard from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $56.00 to $33.00 in a research report on Monday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Lazard currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.83.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, 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 directly owns 234,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,623,437.76. This trade represents a 21.56 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.32, for a total value of $1,383,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 163,448 shares in the company, valued at $9,041,943.36. This trade represents a 13.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 189,078 shares of company stock valued at $9,120,541 over the last three months. 3.86% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Lazard Stock Performance

Lazard stock opened at $35.00 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $46.74 and its 200-day moving average price is $50.73. 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 company has a market cap of $3.95 billion, a PE ratio of 13.16 and a beta of 1.27. Lazard, Inc. has a twelve month low of $31.97 and a twelve month high of $61.14.

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

Lazard Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.72%. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 75.19%.

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.