Evan Russo Sells 50,000 Shares of Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) Stock

Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) CEO Evan Russo sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.95, for a total transaction of $2,847,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 227,915 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,979,759.25. The trade was a 17.99% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Lazard Trading Down 1.8%

Lazard stock opened at $55.68 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $6.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.20 and a beta of 1.35. Lazard, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $31.97 and a fifty-two week high of $61.14. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $54.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $46.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 2.53 and a current ratio of 2.53.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $796.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $674.13 million. Lazard had a net margin of 9.96% and a return on equity of 34.33%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.52 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 68.97%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LAZ has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Lazard from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $60.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Monday, August 25th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Lazard from $47.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Lazard from $38.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. JMP Securities set a $60.00 target price on shares of Lazard and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Lazard in a report on Monday, July 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.00.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lazard

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Lazard by 2,324.4% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,099,179 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $264,096,000 after purchasing an additional 5,847,608 shares during the last quarter. Ariel Investments LLC raised its position in Lazard by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 5,753,997 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $276,077,000 after purchasing an additional 134,717 shares during the last quarter. Amundi raised its position in Lazard by 141.6% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 2,263,046 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $97,990,000 after purchasing an additional 1,326,370 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Lazard by 9.3% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,108,229 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $101,153,000 after purchasing an additional 180,244 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in Lazard by 31.6% during the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,690,943 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $73,214,000 after purchasing an additional 406,232 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 54.80% 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.