Wells Fargo & Company MN Boosts Stock Position in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its position in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 3.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 69,090 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 2,183 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN’s holdings in Lazard were worth $3,557,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Lazard by 26.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,297,249 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $118,294,000 after acquiring an additional 483,696 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. purchased a new position in Lazard in the fourth quarter worth $5,128,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position in shares of Lazard by 11.5% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 41,713 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,147,000 after purchasing an additional 4,309 shares in the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its holdings in shares of Lazard by 11.2% during the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 12,743 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $656,000 after purchasing an additional 1,283 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Lazard in the 4th quarter worth $59,962,000. 54.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Lazard Trading Up 5.8 %

NYSE LAZ opened at $36.40 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $43.88 and a 200 day moving average of $49.94. The company has a market capitalization of $4.10 billion, a PE ratio of 13.68 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72, a current ratio of 2.24 and a quick ratio of 2.24. Lazard, Inc. has a 1 year low of $31.97 and a 1 year high of $61.14.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last announced 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 return on equity of 44.58% and a net margin of 8.98%. Research analysts forecast that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Shareholders 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 5.49%. Lazard’s payout ratio is 75.19%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on LAZ. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Lazard from $44.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. 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 lowered shares of Lazard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted 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. Finally, 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.83.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 64,539 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.56, for a total transaction of $2,940,396.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 170,285 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,758,184.60. The trade was a 27.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.32, for a total transaction of $1,383,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 163,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 quarter, insiders sold 189,078 shares of company stock worth $9,120,541. Company insiders own 3.86% 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.