Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Lazard, Inc. $LAZ

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 34.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,542 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 2,192 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Lazard were worth $430,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Lazard by 5,409.2% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 25,287 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,095,000 after acquiring an additional 24,828 shares during the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Lazard in the first quarter valued at approximately $270,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Lazard by 164.1% during the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,244 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 773 shares during the period. Everhart Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Lazard by 10.0% in the 1st quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 9,376 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $406,000 after acquiring an additional 854 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its stake in shares of Lazard by 11.0% during the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 57,095 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,472,000 after purchasing an additional 5,680 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Lazard Stock Down 2.5%

LAZ stock opened at $50.51 on Tuesday. Lazard, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $31.97 and a fifty-two week high of $61.14. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $54.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $47.72. The company has a quick ratio of 2.53, a current ratio of 2.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15. The stock has a market cap of $5.70 billion, a PE ratio of 17.42 and a beta of 1.37.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.14. Lazard had a net margin of 9.96% and a return on equity of 34.33%. The firm had revenue of $796.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $674.13 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.52 EPS. Lazard’s revenue was up 16.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 EPS for the current year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.97%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Lazard from $38.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Lazard from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $60.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Monday, August 25th. Zacks Research cut Lazard from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 22nd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Lazard in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Citigroup reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Lazard in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Lazard currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.14.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 50,000 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 227,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,979,759.25. This represents a 17.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 32,475 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.09, for a total value of $1,756,572.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 183,274 shares in the company, valued at $9,913,290.66. This trade represents a 15.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 108,092 shares of company stock worth $6,030,986 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 2.26% of the company’s stock.

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.