Lawood & Co. Makes New $586,000 Investment in Lazard, Inc. $LAZ

Lawood & Co. acquired a new position in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 12,070 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $586,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its position in shares of Lazard by 59.5% during the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 590 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. Quest 10 Wealth Builders Inc. bought a new position in shares of Lazard in the 4th quarter worth $32,000. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Lazard by 53.5% in the 3rd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 643 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 224 shares in the last quarter. Costello Asset Management INC bought a new position in Lazard in the 3rd quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, State of Wyoming bought a new position in Lazard in the 2nd quarter valued at about $38,000. Institutional investors own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Citizens Jmp dropped their price target on shares of Lazard from $65.00 to $60.00 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 10th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Lazard from $45.00 to $44.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Lazard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Lazard from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Lazard from $59.00 to $52.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $52.56.

Insider Activity at Lazard

In other news, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 69,170 shares of Lazard stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.76, for a total transaction of $2,819,369.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 210,942 shares in the company, valued at $8,597,995.92. The trade was a 24.69% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Christopher Hogbin sold 7,885 shares of Lazard stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.37, for a total value of $318,317.45. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 15,773 shares in the company, valued at $636,756.01. The trade was a 33.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 80,999 shares of company stock worth $3,292,962. Insiders own 0.95% of the company’s stock.

Lazard Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:LAZ opened at $45.28 on Friday. Lazard, Inc. has a 1-year low of $38.67 and a 1-year high of $58.75. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $44.46 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $48.75. The company has a current ratio of 3.51, a quick ratio of 3.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.94. The stock has a market cap of $5.06 billion, a PE ratio of 17.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 1.44.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last posted its earnings results on Friday, May 1st. The asset manager reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.52 by ($0.10). Lazard had a return on equity of 29.30% and a net margin of 8.47%.The firm had revenue of $672.98 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $707.42 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.56 EPS. Lazard’s quarterly revenue was up 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Lazard, Inc. will post 2.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 11th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 11th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.4%. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 79.05%.

Lazard Company Profile

Lazard Ltd. (NYSE: LAZ) is a leading global financial advisory and asset management firm, offering a comprehensive suite of services to corporations, governments and individuals. Founded in 1848, Lazard has built a reputation for providing independent advice and innovative solutions in complex financial transactions. The firm is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol LAZ and maintains its headquarters in Hamilton, Bermuda.

In its Financial Advisory segment, Lazard assists clients with mergers and acquisitions, restructurings, capital structure optimization and strategic planning.