LifeWealth Investments LLC Invests $456,000 in Lazard, Inc. $LAZ

LifeWealth Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 9,498 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $456,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Calton & Associates Inc. bought a new position in Lazard in the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Lazard by 57.2% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 918 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 334 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Lazard during the 1st quarter worth approximately $50,000. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Lazard by 170.8% during the 2nd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,771 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $85,000 after buying an additional 1,117 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Lazard by 72.7% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,007 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $87,000 after purchasing an additional 845 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Lazard

In other Lazard news, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 32,475 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.09, for a total transaction of $1,756,572.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 183,274 shares in the company, valued at $9,913,290.66. This trade represents a 15.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Michael Gathy sold 617 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.37, for a total value of $34,163.29. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 108,092 shares of company stock valued at $6,030,986. 3.86% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Lazard Trading Down 2.4%

Lazard stock opened at $49.69 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 2.53 and a quick ratio of 2.53. Lazard, Inc. has a one year low of $31.97 and a one year high of $61.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.60 billion, a PE ratio of 17.13 and a beta of 1.37. The business’s fifty day moving average is $53.69 and its 200 day moving average is $48.15.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.14. Lazard had a return on equity of 34.33% and a net margin of 9.96%.The company had revenue of $796.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $674.13 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.52 earnings per share. Lazard’s revenue was up 16.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 EPS for the current year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 3rd. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.97%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of Lazard from $65.00 to $60.00 and set a “moderate buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Lazard from $47.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Zacks Research downgraded Lazard from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on Lazard in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. They set a “market perform” rating and a $56.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Lazard in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $54.43.

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.