Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC Buys Shares of 2,269 Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 2,269 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $87,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in LAZ. LWM Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in Lazard during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $88,000. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Lazard by 7.3% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 651,521 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $24,875,000 after buying an additional 44,151 shares in the last quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D bought a new position in shares of Lazard in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,755,000. Choreo LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Lazard during the 2nd quarter valued at $372,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC grew its position in Lazard by 320.4% during the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 47,576 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,816,000 after acquiring an additional 36,258 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LAZ has been the subject of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on Lazard in a research report on Thursday. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $51.00 target price for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Lazard from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Lazard from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $56.00 price objective (up previously from $49.00) on shares of Lazard in a research note on Friday, July 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $48.71.

Lazard Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LAZ opened at $47.77 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.39 billion, a PE ratio of -136.48 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a quick ratio of 1.94, a current ratio of 1.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.60. Lazard, Inc. has a twelve month low of $25.82 and a twelve month high of $50.26. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $46.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.66.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The asset manager reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $685.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $625.40 million. Lazard had a return on equity of 41.78% and a net margin of 5.50%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.24 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Lazard, Inc. will post 2.44 EPS for the current year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 5th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 5th. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -571.41%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 87,770 shares of Lazard stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.08, for a total value of $4,219,981.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 1,553,225 shares in the company, valued at approximately $74,679,058. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 207,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.23, for a total transaction of $9,362,610.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 1,729,722 shares in the company, valued at $78,235,326.06. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 87,770 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.08, for a total value of $4,219,981.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 1,553,225 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $74,679,058. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 429,604 shares of company stock worth $19,873,736. Corporate insiders own 3.86% of the company’s stock.

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.