Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) CEO Peter Richard Orszag Sells 64,539 Shares

Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ - Get Free Report) CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 64,539 shares of Lazard stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.56, for a total value 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. This trade represents a 27.48 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Peter Richard Orszag also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, March 14th, Peter Richard Orszag sold 64,539 shares of Lazard stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.24, for a total transaction of $2,919,744.36.

Lazard Price Performance

LAZ stock traded up $0.19 during trading on Friday, reaching $45.96. 746,924 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 878,379. Lazard, Inc. has a 52-week low of $35.56 and a 52-week high of $61.14. 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 company has a market cap of $5.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.28 and a beta of 1.41. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $50.42 and its 200 day moving average price is $51.65.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.09. Lazard had a return on equity of 44.58% and a net margin of 8.98%. As a group, analysts predict that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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Lazard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Lazard's dividend payout ratio is currently 75.19%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on LAZ. Wolfe Research downgraded Lazard from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report 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. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Lazard from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Lazard from $63.00 to $56.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Lazard currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $54.17.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. purchased a new position in Lazard during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Lazard during the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lazard during the 4th quarter worth approximately $46,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Lazard by 54.3% during the 4th quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 977 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 344 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Lazard in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.80% of the company's stock.

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.