Christopher Hogbin Sells 7,885 Shares of Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) Stock

Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) CEO Christopher Hogbin sold 7,885 shares of Lazard stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.37, for a total transaction of $318,317.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,773 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $636,756.01. The trade was a 33.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Christopher Hogbin also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, March 19th, Christopher Hogbin sold 3,944 shares of Lazard stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.37, for a total transaction of $155,275.28.

Lazard Trading Down 0.1%

LAZ traded down $0.03 on Thursday, hitting $39.86. The company had a trading volume of 1,375,353 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,696,399. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $50.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $50.89. The company has a quick ratio of 2.28, a current ratio of 2.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85. Lazard, Inc. has a 12-month low of $31.97 and a 12-month high of $58.75. The company has a market cap of $4.45 billion, a PE ratio of 18.28, a PEG ratio of 0.32 and a beta of 1.40.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The asset manager reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $892.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $876.32 million. Lazard had a return on equity of 33.04% and a net margin of 7.49%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.78 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 EPS for the current year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 20th. Investors of record on Monday, February 9th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 9th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.0%. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 91.74%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LAZ. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Lazard in the 4th quarter worth about $80,169,000. M&T Bank Corp boosted its position in Lazard by 2,763.4% in the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 1,405,899 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $68,270,000 after buying an additional 1,356,800 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Lazard by 13.5% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,807,320 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $427,685,000 after acquiring an additional 1,047,869 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in Lazard in the 2nd quarter worth about $34,305,000. Finally, Algebris UK Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Lazard during the fourth quarter worth approximately $24,424,000. 54.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LAZ has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Lazard in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Lazard from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Lazard from $61.00 to $59.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Lazard from $59.00 to $48.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, Citigroup restated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Lazard in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.75.

Lazard Company Profile

Lazard Ltd. (NYSE: LAZ) is a leading global financial advisory and asset management firm, offering a comprehensive suite of services to corporations, governments and individuals. Founded in 1848, Lazard has built a reputation for providing independent advice and innovative solutions in complex financial transactions. The firm is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol LAZ and maintains its headquarters in Hamilton, Bermuda.

In its Financial Advisory segment, Lazard assists clients with mergers and acquisitions, restructurings, capital structure optimization and strategic planning.