Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) CEO Peter Richard Orszag Sells 64,539 Shares

Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 64,539 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.24, for a total transaction of $2,919,744.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 234,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,623,437.76. This trade represents a 21.56 % 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.

Peter Richard Orszag also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, March 17th, Peter Richard Orszag sold 64,539 shares of Lazard stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.56, for a total transaction of $2,940,396.84.

Lazard Price Performance

Shares of LAZ opened at $46.05 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.31 and a beta of 1.41. 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 50 day moving average of $50.57 and a 200 day moving average of $51.73. Lazard, Inc. has a twelve month low of $35.56 and a twelve month high of $61.14.

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

Lazard Announces Dividend

The company 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 dividend yield of 4.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 75.19%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lazard

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Lazard by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,788,512 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $555,393,000 after acquiring an additional 81,559 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in Lazard by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 4,429,776 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $228,045,000 after purchasing an additional 240,938 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Lazard by 26.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,297,249 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $118,294,000 after purchasing an additional 483,696 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Lazard by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,250,049 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $113,357,000 after purchasing an additional 206,295 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp grew its position in Lazard by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,948,167 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $98,149,000 after purchasing an additional 55,469 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Lazard from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of Lazard from $51.00 to $44.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Lazard from $63.00 to $56.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Lazard from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered shares of Lazard from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Lazard presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $54.17.

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.