M&T Bank Corp Trims Position in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

M&T Bank Corp lowered its position in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 3.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 71,401 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 2,516 shares during the quarter. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in Lazard were worth $3,675,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Berbice Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Lazard during the fourth quarter worth $46,000. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new position in Lazard during the fourth quarter worth about $53,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Lazard in the 4th quarter worth about $60,000. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Lazard by 209.0% in the 4th quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,267 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $65,000 after buying an additional 857 shares during the period. Finally, Spire Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Lazard during the 4th quarter valued at about $69,000. 54.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Lazard Price Performance

Lazard stock opened at $48.91 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $51.31 and a 200-day moving average of $51.90. Lazard, Inc. has a 52-week low of $35.56 and a 52-week high of $61.14. The company has a quick ratio of 2.24, a current ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.39 and a beta of 1.41.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.09. Lazard had a return on equity of 44.58% and a net margin of 8.98%. As a group, analysts predict that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 EPS for the current year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 75.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Lazard news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were 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 owns 163,448 shares in the company, valued at $9,041,943.36. The trade was a 13.27 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 3.86% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LAZ has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group raised their target price 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. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Lazard from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Wolfe Research lowered Lazard from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $55.33.

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.