Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Sells 34,996 Shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lowered its stake in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 3.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,064,195 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 34,996 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Lazard were worth $54,785,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of LAZ. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its stake in shares of Lazard by 28.0% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,298 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $118,000 after acquiring an additional 503 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Lazard by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,862,389 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $95,876,000 after buying an additional 90,152 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its position in Lazard by 8.4% in the fourth quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 28,113 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,447,000 after purchasing an additional 2,169 shares during the last quarter. Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Lazard during the 4th quarter valued at $1,647,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Lazard by 128.4% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 678,617 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $34,935,000 after purchasing an additional 381,546 shares during the period. 54.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LAZ has been the topic of several recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Lazard from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Wolfe Research downgraded Lazard from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on 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 reduced their price target on Lazard from $51.00 to $44.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Lazard from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $54.17.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 35,000 shares of Lazard stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.64, for a total transaction of $1,877,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 188,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,108,350.72. The trade was a 15.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 3.14% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Lazard Stock Performance

NYSE LAZ opened at $44.90 on Friday. 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 $35.56 and a 1 year high of $61.14. The company has a market capitalization of $5.06 billion, a PE ratio of 16.88 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a fifty day moving average of $50.83 and a two-hundred day moving average of $51.78.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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, analysts expect 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 was paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.45%. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 75.19%.

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.