Hopwood Financial Services Inc. Takes $41,000 Position in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Hopwood Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 800 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $41,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of LAZ. US Bancorp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Lazard by 2,053.6% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 5,104 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $257,000 after purchasing an additional 4,867 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Lazard by 12.2% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 5,413 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $273,000 after purchasing an additional 589 shares in the last quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of Lazard by 50.4% in the third quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP now owns 12,460 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $628,000 after purchasing an additional 4,178 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Lazard by 5,770.1% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,064,431 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $53,626,000 after purchasing an additional 1,046,298 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Lazard by 3.4% in the third quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 25,944 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,307,000 after purchasing an additional 849 shares in the last quarter. 54.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 35,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.64, for a total value of $1,877,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 188,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,108,350.72. This represents a 15.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 3.14% of the company’s stock.

Lazard Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LAZ opened at $45.83 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $50.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $51.83. The company has a market cap of $5.17 billion, a PE ratio of 17.23 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. Lazard, Inc. has a twelve month low of $35.56 and a twelve month high of $61.14.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 44.58% and a net margin of 8.98%. On average, analysts predict that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 EPS for the current year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.36%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 75.19%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LAZ has been the topic of a number of research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Lazard from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Wolfe Research lowered Lazard from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Lazard from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Lazard from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $55.33.

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.