Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) CEO Peter Richard Orszag Sells 64,539 Shares

Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 64,539 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.56, for a total value of $2,940,396.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 170,285 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,758,184.60. The trade was a 27.48 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Peter Richard Orszag also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, March 14th, Peter Richard Orszag sold 64,539 shares of Lazard stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.24, for a total value of $2,919,744.36.

Lazard Price Performance

Shares of Lazard stock opened at $45.75 on Tuesday. Lazard, Inc. has a twelve month low of $35.56 and a twelve month high of $61.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.20 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a current ratio of 2.24, a quick ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $50.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $51.76.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.37%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Lazard’s payout ratio is currently 75.19%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LAZ. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. purchased a new position in Lazard in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in Lazard in the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Lazard in the fourth quarter valued at about $46,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its position in Lazard by 54.3% in the fourth quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 977 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 344 shares during the period. Finally, Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new position in Lazard in the fourth quarter valued at about $53,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on LAZ. StockNews.com raised Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group raised their price objective on Lazard from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased 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. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Lazard from $63.00 to $56.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $54.17.

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.