Vanguard Group Inc. Increases Position in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 0.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 10,788,512 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 81,559 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 9.57% of Lazard worth $555,393,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LAZ. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Lazard in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in Lazard in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lazard during the fourth quarter worth $46,000. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lazard during the 4th quarter valued at $53,000. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC boosted its position in shares of Lazard by 85.8% in the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 1,137 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 525 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Lazard Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of Lazard stock opened at $43.32 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $49.94 and a 200 day moving average of $51.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.24 and a current ratio of 2.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.28 and a beta of 1.41. Lazard, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $35.56 and a fifty-two week high of $61.14.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) 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, research analysts predict that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.62%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Lazard’s payout ratio is 75.19%.

Insider Activity at Lazard

In other news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.32, for a total value of $1,383,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 163,448 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,041,943.36. This trade represents a 13.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 64,539 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.24, for a total value of $2,919,744.36. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 234,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,623,437.76. The trade was a 21.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 189,078 shares of company stock worth $9,120,541 in the last three months. 3.86% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on LAZ shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Lazard from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Wolfe Research cut shares of Lazard from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Lazard from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Lazard from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price 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.