3,900 Shares in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) Purchased by one8zero8 LLC

one8zero8 LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 3,900 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $201,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its stake in Lazard by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 37,945 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,953,000 after acquiring an additional 469 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank increased its stake in shares of Lazard by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 177,300 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $9,127,000 after purchasing an additional 1,200 shares during the period. Great Lakes Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Lazard in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $326,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Lazard in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, Wealthfront Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Lazard in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,735,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on LAZ. 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. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Lazard from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Lazard from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Wolfe Research cut shares of Lazard from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $54.17.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lazard news, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 64,539 shares of Lazard stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 170,285 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,758,184.60. This trade represents a 27.48 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 25,000 shares of Lazard stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.32, for a total transaction of $1,383,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 163,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,041,943.36. This trade represents a 13.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 189,078 shares of company stock worth $9,120,541. Corporate insiders own 3.86% of the company’s stock.

Lazard Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE:LAZ opened at $45.75 on Tuesday. Lazard, Inc. has a 1-year low of $35.56 and a 1-year 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 stock has a market capitalization of $5.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.20 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $50.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $51.76.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.37%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Lazard’s payout ratio 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.