O Brien Greene & Co. Inc Purchases 500 Shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

O Brien Greene & Co. Inc raised its holdings in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 1.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 27,000 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the quarter. O Brien Greene & Co. Inc’s holdings in Lazard were worth $1,390,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in LAZ. Berbice Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lazard in the fourth quarter worth $46,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Lazard in the 3rd quarter valued at $50,000. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Lazard in the 4th quarter worth $53,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Lazard during the 4th quarter valued at about $60,000. Finally, HHM Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Lazard by 209.0% during the fourth quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,267 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $65,000 after purchasing an additional 857 shares in the last quarter. 54.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Lazard Trading Down 1.4 %

LAZ stock opened at $53.95 on Thursday. Lazard, Inc. has a twelve month low of $35.56 and a twelve month high of $61.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.28 and a beta of 1.41. 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’s fifty day simple moving average is $52.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $51.61.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.09. Lazard had a return on equity of 44.58% and a net margin of 8.98%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.71%. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 75.19%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group increased their price target on Lazard from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Lazard from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Lazard from $51.00 to $44.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Lazard from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. One 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $55.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lazard news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 35,000 shares of Lazard stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.64, for a total transaction of $1,877,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 188,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,108,350.72. The trade was a 15.66 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 3.86% of the company’s stock.

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.