Federated Hermes Inc. Decreases Position in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Federated Hermes Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ - Free Report) by 9.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 631,070 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 62,380 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. owned 0.56% of Lazard worth $32,487,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Verition Fund Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lazard during the third quarter worth approximately $605,000. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Lazard by 1.8% during the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 40,425 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $2,028,000 after buying an additional 728 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Lazard by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,948,167 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $98,149,000 after buying an additional 55,469 shares during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in Lazard during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,399,000. Finally, Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC boosted its holdings in Lazard by 7.6% during the 3rd quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 28,142 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,418,000 after acquiring an additional 1,987 shares during the last quarter. 54.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LAZ has been the subject of several analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Lazard from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Lazard from $44.00 to $38.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. StockNews.com downgraded Lazard from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday. Wolfe Research downgraded Lazard from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered Lazard from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $56.00 to $33.00 in a report on Monday, April 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $46.83.

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Lazard Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:LAZ traded down $0.33 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $34.64. The company had a trading volume of 1,720,988 shares, compared to its average volume of 940,436. Lazard, Inc. has a one year low of $31.97 and a one year high of $61.14. The company has a current ratio of 2.24, a quick ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72. The company's 50-day moving average price is $46.39 and its 200-day moving average price is $50.62. The firm has a market cap of $3.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.02 and a beta of 1.27.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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, equities research analysts anticipate that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.77%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Lazard's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 75.19%.

Insider Activity at Lazard

In related news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 35,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.64, for a total value of $1,877,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 188,448 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,108,350.72. The trade was a 15.66 % 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 stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at approximately $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 valued at $9,120,541 over the last three months. 3.86% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.