Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) Shares Sold by Fmr LLC

FMR LLC lowered its stake in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ - Free Report) by 9.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,643,715 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 924,280 shares during the period. FMR LLC owned approximately 7.66% of Lazard worth $444,978,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Lazard by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,948,167 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $98,149,000 after purchasing an additional 55,469 shares during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in Lazard in the fourth quarter worth approximately $947,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of Lazard by 128.4% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 678,617 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $34,935,000 after acquiring an additional 381,546 shares during the last quarter. Monument Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of Lazard during the 4th quarter valued at $2,809,000. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Lazard by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,862,389 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $95,876,000 after buying an additional 90,152 shares during the period. 54.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on LAZ shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Lazard from $44.00 to $38.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Lazard from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Lazard from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. JMP Securities reduced their price objective on Lazard from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a "market outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Lazard from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $46.83.

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Insider Buying and Selling

In other Lazard news, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 64,539 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.56, for a total transaction of $2,940,396.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 170,285 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,758,184.60. This represents a 27.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 35,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.64, for a total transaction of $1,877,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 188,448 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,108,350.72. The trade was a 15.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 189,078 shares of company stock worth $9,120,541. 3.86% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Lazard Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of LAZ stock traded up $0.65 on Tuesday, hitting $36.23. The stock had a trading volume of 186,922 shares, compared to its average volume of 938,512. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $46.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $50.52. Lazard, Inc. has a one year low of $31.97 and a one year high of $61.14. The company has a quick ratio of 2.24, a current ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72. The company has a market cap of $4.08 billion, a PE ratio of 13.62 and a beta of 1.27.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ - Get Free Report) last issued 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%. Research analysts anticipate that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.52%. 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.