Lazard, Inc. $LAZ Stock Sold by State of Alaska Department of Revenue

State of Alaska Department of Revenue reduced its stake in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 7.5% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 268,412 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 21,678 shares during the quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue’s holdings in Lazard were worth $9,723,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in LAZ. Bleakley Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Lazard by 2.7% during the first quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 11,111 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $472,000 after purchasing an additional 289 shares during the last quarter. Moran Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Lazard by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Moran Wealth Management LLC now owns 46,266 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,965,000 after purchasing an additional 472 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Lazard by 25.9% in the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,317 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $98,000 after purchasing an additional 477 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Lazard by 37.2% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,872 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $68,000 after purchasing an additional 508 shares during the period. Finally, Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC acquired a new position in Lazard during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. 54.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Peter Orszag sold 125,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.52, for a total value of $5,440,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 260,942 shares in the company, valued at $11,356,195.84. This trade represents a 32.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.95% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on LAZ shares. Capital One Financial set a $38.00 price objective on Lazard in a research note on Tuesday, October 6th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of Lazard in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Zacks Research upgraded Lazard from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 28th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Lazard from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Lazard from $44.00 to $40.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 7th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Lazard has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.25.

Lazard Price Performance

NYSE LAZ opened at $36.18 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $40.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $43.14. Lazard, Inc. has a 52 week low of $34.13 and a 52 week high of $58.75. The stock has a market cap of $4.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a current ratio of 2.84, a quick ratio of 2.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.12 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by ($0.22). The business had revenue of $786.47 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $736.29 million. Lazard had a net margin of 6.95% and a return on equity of 23.58%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.52 EPS. Analysts forecast that Lazard, Inc. will post 2.01 EPS for the current year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 14th. Investors of record on Monday, August 3rd were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 3rd. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio is 98.04%.

Lazard Profile

Lazard Ltd. (NYSE: LAZ) is a global financial advisory and asset management firm. The company provides advice to corporations, financial institutions, governments and other public-sector entities on strategic matters, including mergers and acquisitions, capital structure, restructuring, shareholder relations and other corporate finance transactions.

Through its asset management business, Lazard manages investment strategies for institutions, financial intermediaries and private clients across equities, fixed income, alternatives and other asset classes.