Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) CEO Sells $2,919,744.36 in Stock

Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 64,539 shares of Lazard stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.24, for a total transaction of $2,919,744.36. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 234,824 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,623,437.76. This represents a 21.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Peter Richard Orszag also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, March 17th, Peter Richard Orszag sold 64,539 shares of Lazard stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.56, for a total value of $2,940,396.84.

Lazard Price Performance

Shares of LAZ opened at $46.54 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.24, a current ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72. 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 $5.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.50 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a 50 day moving average of $50.50 and a 200-day moving average of $51.69.

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

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Lazard’s payout ratio is 75.19%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on LAZ. UBS Group increased their price target on Lazard from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on Lazard from $51.00 to $44.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Lazard from $63.00 to $56.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Lazard from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $54.17.

Institutional Trading of Lazard

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of LAZ. State Street Corp grew its stake in Lazard by 2.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,948,167 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $98,149,000 after purchasing an additional 55,469 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Lazard by 128.4% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 678,617 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $34,935,000 after buying an additional 381,546 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Lazard by 2.2% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,772,237 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $89,285,000 after buying an additional 37,681 shares in the last quarter. Monument Capital Management acquired a new position in Lazard during the fourth quarter worth $2,809,000. Finally, Wealthfront Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Lazard during the fourth quarter worth $3,735,000. Institutional investors own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

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.