Quest Partners LLC Sells 46,964 Shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Quest Partners LLC trimmed its position in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 98.7% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 612 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 46,964 shares during the quarter. Quest Partners LLC’s holdings in Lazard were worth $31,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Richardson Financial Services Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Lazard by 1,125.0% in the 2nd quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 735 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 675 shares in the last quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC raised its position in Lazard by 58.9% in the 2nd quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 890 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 330 shares during the last quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Lazard in the third quarter worth $50,000. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lazard during the second quarter worth $87,000. Finally, LWM Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Lazard in the second quarter valued at $88,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on LAZ. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Lazard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. JMP Securities upped their target price on shares of Lazard from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Lazard from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on Lazard in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $51.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Lazard from $59.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Lazard has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.00.

Insider Transactions at Lazard

In other news, Chairman Kenneth M. Jacobs sold 87,770 shares of Lazard stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.08, for a total transaction of $4,219,981.60. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 1,553,225 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $74,679,058. This trade represents a 5.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 3.86% of the company’s stock.

Lazard Price Performance

Shares of LAZ stock opened at $58.07 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $53.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $46.92. 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 52-week low of $29.28 and a 52-week high of $61.14. The stock has a market cap of $6.55 billion, a PE ratio of 23.14 and a beta of 1.38.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The asset manager reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.41 by ($0.03). Lazard had a return on equity of 42.20% and a net margin of 8.28%. The company had revenue of $646.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $644.22 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.10 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Lazard, Inc. will post 2.27 EPS for the current year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.44%. Lazard’s payout ratio is currently 79.68%.

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.