Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) Shares Sold by Argent Trust Co

Argent Trust Co lessened its position in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 45,095 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 288 shares during the period. Argent Trust Co’s holdings in Lazard were worth $2,321,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of LAZ. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. acquired a new position in Lazard in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in Lazard in the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Lazard in the 4th quarter worth about $46,000. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Lazard in the 4th quarter valued at about $53,000. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC increased its stake in shares of Lazard by 85.8% during the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 1,137 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 525 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 163,448 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,041,943.36. This represents a 13.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible 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 shares were 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. The trade was a 21.56 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 189,078 shares of company stock valued at $9,120,541. 3.86% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LAZ has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Lazard from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Lazard from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $56.00 to $33.00 in a research note on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on Lazard from $51.00 to $44.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Wolfe Research downgraded Lazard from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Lazard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.83.

Lazard Trading Down 9.0 %

LAZ opened at $35.00 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.95 billion, a PE ratio of 13.16 and a beta of 1.27. 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 12-month low of $31.97 and a 12-month high of $61.14. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $46.74 and its 200 day moving average price is $50.73.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 44.58% and a net margin of 8.98%. As a group, research analysts expect that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

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

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.