Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Purchases 469 Shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its position in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 1.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 37,945 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 469 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Lazard were worth $1,953,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Amundi boosted its position in Lazard by 31,967.0% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 936,676 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $46,886,000 after acquiring an additional 933,755 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in Lazard by 128.4% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 678,617 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $34,935,000 after purchasing an additional 381,546 shares in the last quarter. Azora Capital LP purchased a new position in Lazard in the third quarter valued at about $13,560,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Lazard by 10.1% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,250,049 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $113,357,000 after purchasing an additional 206,295 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Lazard during the third quarter valued at about $8,430,000. 54.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lazard

In other Lazard news, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 64,539 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.24, for a total transaction of $2,919,744.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 234,824 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,623,437.76. The trade was a 21.56 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 163,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,041,943.36. The trade was a 13.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 189,078 shares of company stock valued at $9,120,541. Company insiders own 3.86% of the company’s stock.

Lazard Stock Down 3.6 %

Lazard stock opened at $43.18 on Friday. Lazard, Inc. has a 52 week low of $35.56 and a 52 week high of $61.14. The firm has a market cap of $4.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.23 and a beta of 1.41. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $50.09 and its 200 day moving average price is $51.55. The company has a quick ratio of 2.24, a current ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.09. Lazard had a net margin of 8.98% and a return on equity of 44.58%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.63%. Lazard’s payout ratio is 75.19%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LAZ has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Lazard from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Lazard from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Lazard from $63.00 to $56.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on Lazard from $51.00 to $44.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered Lazard from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $54.17.

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.