Martingale Asset Management L P Purchases New Holdings in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Martingale Asset Management L P bought a new position in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 28,801 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $1,483,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. acquired a new stake in Lazard during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Lazard during the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lazard in the 4th quarter valued at $46,000. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new position in Lazard in the 4th quarter worth about $53,000. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC raised its holdings in Lazard by 85.8% during the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 1,137 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $59,000 after buying an additional 525 shares during the period. 54.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on LAZ. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Lazard from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley lowered Lazard from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and reduced their target price for the company from $56.00 to $33.00 in a report on Monday, April 7th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Lazard from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Lazard from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on Lazard from $51.00 to $44.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $46.83.

Remove Ads

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 163,448 shares in the company, valued at $9,041,943.36. This represents a 13.27 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, 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 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 189,078 shares of company stock worth $9,120,541. 3.86% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Lazard Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE LAZ traded up $0.27 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $35.85. The stock had a trading volume of 981,253 shares, compared to its average volume of 938,614. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $46.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $50.52. Lazard, Inc. has a 52 week low of $31.97 and a 52 week high of $61.14. The company has a market capitalization of $4.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.48 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. Analysts anticipate that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.58%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Lazard's payout ratio is 75.19%.

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.