Dark Forest Capital Management LP Sells 16,643 Shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Dark Forest Capital Management LP reduced its position in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ - Free Report) by 40.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 24,436 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 16,643 shares during the period. Dark Forest Capital Management LP's holdings in Lazard were worth $1,258,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MML Investors Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lazard in the third quarter valued at about $296,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in Lazard in the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,322,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Lazard by 10.1% during the 3rd 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. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC increased its holdings in shares of Lazard by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC now owns 45,549 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $2,345,000 after purchasing an additional 1,838 shares during the period. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its position in shares of Lazard by 12.2% in the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 6,672 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $343,000 after buying an additional 728 shares in the last quarter. 54.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LAZ has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley downgraded Lazard from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $56.00 to $33.00 in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Lazard from $44.00 to $38.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. JMP Securities dropped their price target on Lazard from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a "market outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of Lazard from $51.00 to $44.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Lazard from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $46.83.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 25,000 shares of Lazard stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.32, for a total transaction of $1,383,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 163,448 shares of the company's stock, 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 document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 64,539 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.56, for a total value of $2,940,396.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 170,285 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,758,184.60. This represents a 27.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 189,078 shares of company stock worth $9,120,541 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 3.86% of the company's stock.

Lazard Stock Up 5.8 %

Shares of NYSE LAZ opened at $36.40 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $4.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.68 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a current ratio of 2.24, a quick ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72. Lazard, Inc. has a 12 month low of $31.97 and a 12 month high of $61.14. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $43.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $49.94.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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, analysts forecast that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Lazard's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 75.19%.

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.

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