Lazard, Inc. $LAZ Shares Purchased by Parallel Advisors LLC

Parallel Advisors LLC raised its stake in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 170.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,771 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,117 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC’s holdings in Lazard were worth $85,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of LAZ. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in Lazard by 28.6% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 219,844 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $11,318,000 after purchasing an additional 48,956 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its position in Lazard by 42.1% in the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 17,454 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $899,000 after purchasing an additional 5,170 shares in the last quarter. Ascent Group LLC raised its position in Lazard by 9.6% in the 4th quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 10,504 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $541,000 after purchasing an additional 922 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its position in Lazard by 22.5% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,723 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $295,000 after purchasing an additional 1,053 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Lazard by 5,409.2% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 25,287 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,095,000 after purchasing an additional 24,828 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lazard

In other Lazard news, CAO Michael Gathy sold 617 shares of Lazard stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.37, for a total value of $34,163.29. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 50,000 shares of Lazard stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.95, for a total value of $2,847,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 227,915 shares in the company, valued at $12,979,759.25. This trade represents a 17.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 108,092 shares of company stock worth $6,030,986. 3.86% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on LAZ shares. Citigroup reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Lazard in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Lazard from $38.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. JMP Securities set a $60.00 target price on Lazard and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Lazard from $47.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Lazard from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $60.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Monday, August 25th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $55.00.

Lazard Trading Down 2.0%

NYSE:LAZ opened at $55.00 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $54.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $47.31. The company has a market capitalization of $6.20 billion, a PE ratio of 18.97 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a quick ratio of 2.53, a current ratio of 2.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15. Lazard, Inc. has a 52-week low of $31.97 and a 52-week high of $61.14.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $796.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $674.13 million. Lazard had a return on equity of 34.33% and a net margin of 9.96%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.52 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 EPS for the current year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.97%.

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.