Ascent Group LLC Reduces Position in Lazard, Inc. $LAZ

Ascent Group LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 32.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,516 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 4,656 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC’s holdings in Lazard were worth $457,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of LAZ. Calton & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Lazard during the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Lazard by 57.2% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 918 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 334 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Lazard during the 1st quarter valued at about $50,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in Lazard by 164.1% during the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,244 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 773 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC grew its stake in Lazard by 170.8% during the 2nd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,771 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $85,000 after acquiring an additional 1,117 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LAZ has been the subject of several analyst reports. JMP Securities set a $60.00 price target on shares of Lazard and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Lazard from $47.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Citigroup reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Lazard in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Lazard in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Lazard from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Lazard currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.14.

Insider Transactions at Lazard

In other Lazard news, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 32,475 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.09, for a total transaction of $1,756,572.75. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 183,274 shares in the company, valued at $9,913,290.66. This represents a 15.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Michael Gathy sold 617 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.37, for a total transaction of $34,163.29. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 108,092 shares of company stock worth $6,030,986. 2.26% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Lazard Stock Performance

Shares of LAZ stock opened at $49.83 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $54.32 and its 200-day moving average price is $47.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 2.53 and a current ratio of 2.53. Lazard, Inc. has a one year low of $31.97 and a one year high of $61.14. The firm has a market cap of $5.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.18 and a beta of 1.37.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.14. Lazard had a net margin of 9.96% and a return on equity of 34.33%. The firm had revenue of $796.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $674.13 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.52 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 EPS for the current year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.97%.

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.