one8zero8 LLC Purchases Shares of 3,900 Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

one8zero8 LLC purchased a new stake in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 3,900 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $201,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Lazard during the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lazard during the 4th quarter valued at $46,000. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lazard during the 4th quarter valued at $53,000. AlphaQuest LLC grew its stake in shares of Lazard by 85.8% during the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 1,137 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $59,000 after buying an additional 525 shares during the period. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Lazard during the 4th quarter valued at $60,000. 54.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on LAZ shares. Wolfe Research cut shares of Lazard from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Lazard from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com raised shares of Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Lazard from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Lazard from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $54.17.

Lazard Stock Performance

NYSE:LAZ opened at $45.75 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72, a current ratio of 2.24 and a quick ratio of 2.24. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $50.65 and a two-hundred day moving average of $51.76. The stock has a market cap of $5.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.20 and a beta of 1.41. Lazard, Inc. has a 1-year low of $35.56 and a 1-year high of $61.14.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 8.98% and a return on equity of 44.58%. On average, research analysts expect that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 64,539 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.56, for a total value of $2,940,396.84. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 170,285 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,758,184.60. This represents a 27.48 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 35,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.64, for a total transaction of $1,877,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 189,078 shares of company stock worth $9,120,541. 3.86% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Lazard 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.