Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) Shares Bought by NewEdge Advisors LLC

NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 54.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 977 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 344 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC’s holdings in Lazard were worth $50,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Icon Advisers Inc. Co. grew its holdings in Lazard by 71.7% in the 4th quarter. Icon Advisers Inc. Co. now owns 65,600 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,377,000 after buying an additional 27,400 shares in the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina grew its position in Lazard by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 48,129 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,478,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Ranger Investment Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Lazard in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $18,372,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Lazard during the fourth quarter worth $2,285,000. Finally, Martingale Asset Management L P acquired a new stake in Lazard in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,483,000. 54.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Lazard Trading Up 4.7 %

NYSE:LAZ opened at $41.29 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.24 and a current ratio of 2.24. Lazard, Inc. has a 1 year low of $31.97 and a 1 year high of $61.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.52 and a beta of 1.27. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $41.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $49.28.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The asset manager reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.27. Lazard had a return on equity of 44.58% and a net margin of 8.98%. The firm had revenue of $669.16 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $698.39 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.66 EPS. Lazard’s quarterly revenue was down 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 5th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.84%. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 69.69%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lazard news, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 64,539 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $7,758,184.60. This represents a 27.48 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 25,000 shares of Lazard 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 163,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,041,943.36. This represents a 13.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 189,078 shares of company stock valued at $9,120,541. Corporate insiders own 3.86% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LAZ has been the topic of several analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Lazard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Lazard from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $56.00 to $33.00 in a research note on Monday, April 7th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Lazard in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Lazard from $44.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Lazard from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lazard has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.83.

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.