First National Trust Co Grows Stock Position in Lazard, Inc. $LAZ

First National Trust Co lifted its stake in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 62.5% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 57,194 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 21,988 shares during the period. First National Trust Co’s holdings in Lazard were worth $2,744,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 5,847,608 shares during the period. Ariel Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Lazard by 0.4% in the first quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 5,619,280 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $243,315,000 after purchasing an additional 21,065 shares during the last quarter. Amundi grew its stake in shares of Lazard by 141.6% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 2,263,046 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $97,990,000 after purchasing an additional 1,326,370 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of Lazard by 31.6% in the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,690,943 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $73,214,000 after purchasing an additional 406,232 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Lazard by 42.2% in the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,644,323 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $71,199,000 after purchasing an additional 487,574 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Lazard Stock Performance

Lazard stock opened at $48.94 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $53.31 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $48.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 2.53 and a current ratio of 2.53. The stock has a market cap of $5.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.34 and a beta of 1.37. Lazard, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $31.97 and a fifty-two week high of $61.14.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 23rd. The asset manager reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $782.43 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $739.91 million. Lazard had a return on equity of 37.15% and a net margin of 8.89%.The business’s revenue was down 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.38 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 3rd. Lazard’s payout ratio is presently 79.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lazard

In other news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.95, for a total value of $2,847,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 227,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,979,759.25. The trade was a 17.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Michael Gathy sold 617 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.37, for a total value of $34,163.29. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 108,092 shares of company stock valued at $6,030,986. 2.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. JMP Securities set a $60.00 target price on Lazard and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Zacks Research cut Lazard from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $46.00 target price on Lazard and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Lazard from $38.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on Lazard from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $55.00.

About Lazard

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.