Royce & Associates LP Trims Stock Holdings in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Royce & Associates LP decreased its holdings in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 6.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 855,913 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 60,606 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP owned 0.76% of Lazard worth $44,062,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of LAZ. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Lazard in the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Lazard during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new position in Lazard during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $53,000. AlphaQuest LLC grew its stake in Lazard by 85.8% during the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 1,137 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 525 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in Lazard during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $60,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Lazard

In other news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.32, for a total value of $1,383,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 163,448 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,041,943.36. The trade was a 13.27 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 3.14% of the company’s stock.

Lazard Price Performance

LAZ stock opened at $44.98 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72, a current ratio of 2.24 and a quick ratio of 2.24. Lazard, Inc. has a one year low of $35.56 and a one year high of $61.14. The stock has a market cap of $5.07 billion, a PE ratio of 16.91 and a beta of 1.41. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $50.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $51.76.

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

Lazard Announces Dividend

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.45%. Lazard’s payout ratio is 75.19%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on LAZ shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Lazard from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Lazard from $63.00 to $56.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. StockNews.com raised shares of Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Lazard from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of Lazard from $51.00 to $44.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $54.17.

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.