Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Increases Stake in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 249.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 251,571 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 179,511 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD’s holdings in Lazard were worth $12,952,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in LAZ. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. purchased a new stake in Lazard during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in Lazard during the 4th quarter worth about $41,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Lazard during the 4th quarter worth approximately $46,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its position in Lazard by 54.3% during the fourth quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 977 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 344 shares during the period. Finally, Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lazard in the 4th quarter valued at about $53,000. 54.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Lazard Trading Up 4.7 %

NYSE:LAZ opened at $41.29 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.24, a quick ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72. The firm has a market cap of $4.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.52 and a beta of 1.27. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $41.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is $49.32. Lazard, Inc. has a 12-month low of $31.97 and a 12-month high of $61.14.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The asset manager reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.27. The business had revenue of $669.16 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $698.39 million. Lazard had a net margin of 8.98% and a return on equity of 44.58%. The business’s revenue was down 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.66 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 EPS for the current year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 5th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 5th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.84%. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 69.69%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 170,285 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,758,184.60. The trade was a 27.48 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 35,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.64, for a total value of $1,877,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 188,448 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,108,350.72. The trade was a 15.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 189,078 shares of company stock worth $9,120,541. 3.86% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LAZ has been the subject of several analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Lazard from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target 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. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Lazard from $51.00 to $44.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Lazard in a report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped 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. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Lazard has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.