Crestline Management LP Decreases Stake in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Crestline Management LP lessened its stake in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 48.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 8,156 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 7,753 shares during the quarter. Crestline Management LP’s holdings in Lazard were worth $420,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. acquired a new position in Lazard during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Lazard during the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Lazard in the 4th quarter worth approximately $46,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its stake in Lazard by 54.3% in the 4th quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 977 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 344 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new position in Lazard during the fourth quarter worth $53,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.32, for a total value of $1,383,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 163,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,041,943.36. This trade represents a 13.27 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 64,539 shares of the business’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 directly owns 170,285 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,758,184.60. This trade represents a 27.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 189,078 shares of company stock valued at $9,120,541 in the last 90 days. 3.86% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Lazard Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE LAZ opened at $42.57 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.00 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.24 and a current ratio of 2.24. Lazard, Inc. has a 1 year low of $31.97 and a 1 year high of $61.14. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $41.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $48.89.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The asset manager reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.27. The business had revenue of $669.16 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $698.39 million. Lazard had a return on equity of 44.58% and a net margin of 8.98%. The business’s revenue was down 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.66 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 5th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 5th. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 69.69%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on LAZ. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Lazard from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Lazard from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $56.00 to $33.00 in a report on Monday, April 7th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Lazard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Lazard from $44.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Lazard from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.83.

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.