Jackson Hole Capital Partners LLC Grows Stock Position in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Jackson Hole Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 4.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 34,494 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 1,422 shares during the quarter. Jackson Hole Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Lazard were worth $1,776,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Berbice Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Lazard during the fourth quarter worth about $46,000. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lazard in the 4th quarter worth about $53,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Lazard in the 4th quarter worth about $60,000. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Lazard by 209.0% in the 4th quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,267 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $65,000 after purchasing an additional 857 shares during the period. Finally, Spire Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Lazard in the 4th quarter worth about $69,000. 54.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lazard

In other news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 35,000 shares of Lazard stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.64, for a total transaction of $1,877,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 188,448 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,108,350.72. This trade represents a 15.66 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 3.86% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Lazard from $51.00 to $44.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. StockNews.com upgraded Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Wolfe Research downgraded Lazard from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Lazard from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Lazard from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Lazard has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $55.33.

Lazard Price Performance

Shares of LAZ opened at $48.91 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $5.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.39 and a beta of 1.41. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $51.31 and a 200-day moving average of $51.90. The company has a current ratio of 2.24, a quick ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72. Lazard, Inc. has a 52 week low of $35.56 and a 52 week 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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.09. Lazard had a return on equity of 44.58% and a net margin of 8.98%. As a group, analysts forecast that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 EPS for the current year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Lazard’s payout ratio is currently 75.19%.

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.