Janus Henderson Group PLC Lowers Holdings in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Janus Henderson Group PLC reduced its stake in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 10.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,361,366 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 150,683 shares during the quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC owned about 1.21% of Lazard worth $70,085,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. bought a new position in Lazard during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Lazard in the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Lazard in the fourth quarter worth $46,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its stake in Lazard by 54.3% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new position in Lazard during the fourth quarter valued at $53,000. Institutional investors own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Lazard from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Lazard from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Lazard from $51.00 to $44.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Morgan Stanley downgraded Lazard from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their target price for the company from $56.00 to $33.00 in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Lazard in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $45.00.

Lazard Stock Up 0.8%

NYSE:LAZ opened at $46.36 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72, a current ratio of 2.24 and a quick ratio of 2.24. Lazard, Inc. has a 1-year low of $31.97 and a 1-year high of $61.14. The company has a 50-day moving average of $41.01 and a 200 day moving average of $48.84. The firm has a market cap of $5.23 billion, a PE ratio of 17.43 and a beta of 1.28.

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

Lazard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 16th. Investors of record on Monday, May 5th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 5th. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 69.69%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.32, for a total transaction of $1,383,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 163,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,041,943.36. This trade represents a 13.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 64,539 shares of Lazard stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.24, for a total value of $2,919,744.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 234,824 shares in the company, valued at $10,623,437.76. This trade represents a 21.56% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 154,078 shares of company stock valued at $7,243,141 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 3.86% of the company’s stock.

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.