Federated Hermes Inc. Sells 61,970 Shares of Lazard, Inc. $LAZ

Federated Hermes Inc. cut its stake in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 9.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 584,912 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 61,970 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. owned about 0.52% of Lazard worth $28,064,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Lazard by 57.2% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 918 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 334 shares in the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Lazard in the 2nd quarter worth about $49,000. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Lazard by 170.8% during the 2nd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,771 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $85,000 after purchasing an additional 1,117 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Lazard by 72.7% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,007 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $87,000 after purchasing an additional 845 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its position in Lazard by 12.5% in the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 2,259 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $98,000 after buying an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $46.00 price objective on shares of Lazard and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on Lazard in a report on Friday, October 3rd. They set a “market perform” rating and a $56.00 price target for the company. Zacks Research lowered Lazard from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Lazard in a report on Monday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on Lazard from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 24th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.00.

Insider Transactions at Lazard

In related news, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 32,475 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 183,274 shares in the company, valued at $9,913,290.66. This trade represents a 15.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.95, for a total transaction of $2,847,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 227,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,979,759.25. This represents a 17.99% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 2.26% of the company’s stock.

Lazard Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of NYSE LAZ opened at $51.34 on Wednesday. Lazard, Inc. has a 1 year low of $31.97 and a 1 year high of $58.07. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $49.86 and its 200-day moving average is $50.76. The company has a current ratio of 2.58, a quick ratio of 2.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.79 billion, a PE ratio of 20.29 and a beta of 1.40.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 23rd. The asset manager reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.17. Lazard had a net margin of 8.89% and a return on equity of 35.02%. The business had revenue of $770.76 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $739.91 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.38 earnings per share. Lazard’s revenue was down 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 EPS for the current year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 3rd. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.9%. Lazard’s payout ratio is 79.05%.

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.