Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) CEO Sells $2,940,396.84 in Stock

Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 64,539 shares of Lazard stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 170,285 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,758,184.60. The trade was a 27.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

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 value of $2,919,744.36.

Lazard Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of Lazard stock opened at $45.75 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.24, a current ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72. The firm has a market cap of $5.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.20 and a beta of 1.41. Lazard, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $35.56 and a fifty-two week high of $61.14. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $50.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $51.76.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.09. Lazard had a return on equity of 44.58% and a net margin of 8.98%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.37%. Lazard’s payout ratio is currently 75.19%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on LAZ. Wolfe Research lowered Lazard from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. StockNews.com raised Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Lazard from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. 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 research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Lazard from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $54.17.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lazard

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted 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 acquiring an additional 81,559 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of Lazard by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 4,429,776 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $228,045,000 after buying an additional 240,938 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Lazard by 26.7% during 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 period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Lazard by 10.1% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,250,049 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $113,357,000 after buying an additional 206,295 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Lazard by 2.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,948,167 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $98,149,000 after buying an additional 55,469 shares during the period. 54.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.