Alliancebernstein L.P. Increases Stock Position in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 11.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 41,713 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 4,309 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P.’s holdings in Lazard were worth $2,147,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of LAZ. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. purchased a new position in Lazard in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Lazard during the 4th quarter worth $41,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lazard in the 4th quarter valued at about $46,000. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Lazard in the fourth quarter valued at about $53,000. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC boosted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 525 shares in the last quarter. 54.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lazard

In other Lazard news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 35,000 shares of Lazard stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.64, for a total value of $1,877,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 188,448 shares in the company, valued at $10,108,350.72. The trade was a 15.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 64,539 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.56, for a total transaction of $2,940,396.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 170,285 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,758,184.60. The trade was a 27.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 189,078 shares of company stock worth $9,120,541. Insiders own 2.26% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on LAZ shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Lazard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 10th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Lazard from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley lowered Lazard from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $56.00 to $33.00 in a report on Monday, April 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Lazard from $51.00 to $44.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, JMP Securities decreased their price objective on shares of Lazard from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.83.

Lazard Stock Performance

NYSE LAZ opened at $34.95 on Thursday. 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 stock has a market cap of $3.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.14 and a beta of 1.27. Lazard, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $31.97 and a fifty-two week high of $61.14. The business has a fifty day moving average of $45.29 and a 200-day moving average of $50.31.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last released 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 fiscal year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The company 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.72%. Lazard’s payout ratio is currently 75.19%.

Lazard 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.