99,604 Shares in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) Purchased by Franklin Resources Inc.

Franklin Resources Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 99,604 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $5,128,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Lazard by 1.8% during the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 40,425 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,028,000 after buying an additional 728 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Lazard by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,948,167 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $98,149,000 after acquiring an additional 55,469 shares during the period. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC raised its position in shares of Lazard by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 28,142 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,418,000 after acquiring an additional 1,987 shares in the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lazard during the 3rd quarter worth $296,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Lazard by 0.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,813,553 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $91,392,000 after purchasing an additional 15,151 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Lazard Stock Performance

Shares of LAZ stock opened at $35.00 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $46.74 and a 200 day moving average of $50.73. Lazard, Inc. has a 1 year low of $31.97 and a 1 year high of $61.14. 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 $3.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.16 and a beta of 1.27.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 earnings per share for the current year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 75.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 25,000 shares of Lazard stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 163,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,041,943.36. The trade was a 13.27 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 64,539 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 234,824 shares in the company, valued at $10,623,437.76. This trade represents a 21.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 189,078 shares of company stock valued at $9,120,541 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 3.86% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on LAZ. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Lazard from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Wolfe Research cut shares of Lazard from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Lazard from $44.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley lowered Lazard from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $56.00 to $33.00 in a report on Monday. Finally, JMP Securities dropped their target price on Lazard from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lazard has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.83.

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.