Invesco Ltd. Sells 64,005 Shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Invesco Ltd. reduced its stake in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ - Free Report) by 5.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,200,401 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 64,005 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. owned 1.06% of Lazard worth $61,797,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Lazard by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,788,512 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $555,393,000 after purchasing an additional 81,559 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Lazard by 26.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,297,249 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $118,294,000 after buying an additional 483,696 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Lazard by 10.1% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,250,049 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $113,357,000 after acquiring an additional 206,295 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Lazard by 2.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,948,167 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $98,149,000 after acquiring an additional 55,469 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in 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 acquiring an additional 90,152 shares in the last quarter. 54.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.32, for a total value of $1,383,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 163,448 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,041,943.36. This represents a 13.27 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 64,539 shares of Lazard 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 170,285 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,758,184.60. This trade represents a 27.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 189,078 shares of company stock worth $9,120,541. 2.26% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Lazard Stock Performance

Shares of LAZ traded up $0.60 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $35.47. The company's stock had a trading volume of 695,820 shares, compared to its average volume of 939,856. Lazard, Inc. has a one year low of $31.97 and a one year high of $61.14. The stock's 50-day moving average is $44.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $50.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.00 billion, a PE ratio of 13.33 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.24 and a current ratio of 2.24.

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

Lazard Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.64%. Lazard's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 75.19%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of Lazard from $51.00 to $44.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Wolfe Research lowered Lazard from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Lazard from $44.00 to $38.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley downgraded Lazard from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and lowered their price target for the company from $56.00 to $33.00 in a report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Lazard from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lazard presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $46.83.

Lazard Company 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.