Natixis Advisors LLC Trims Stock Position in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Natixis Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 2.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 28,790 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 627 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Lazard were worth $1,482,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its holdings in Lazard by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 37,945 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,953,000 after buying an additional 469 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank lifted its stake in shares of Lazard by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 177,300 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $9,127,000 after purchasing an additional 1,200 shares during the period. Great Lakes Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lazard in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $326,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Lazard in the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Finally, Wealthfront Advisers LLC bought a new position in Lazard in the fourth quarter worth $3,735,000. Institutional investors own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Lazard Stock Performance

LAZ stock opened at $47.06 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.31 billion, a PE ratio of 17.69 and a beta of 1.41. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $50.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $51.66. Lazard, Inc. has a 12-month low of $35.56 and a 12-month high of $61.14. The company has a current ratio of 2.24, a quick ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72.

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, research analysts forecast that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.25%. Lazard’s payout ratio is 75.19%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on LAZ. Wolfe Research cut shares of Lazard from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group boosted their price target on Lazard from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Lazard from $51.00 to $44.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Lazard from $63.00 to $56.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $54.17.

Insider Activity at Lazard

In other news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 163,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,041,943.36. This represents a 13.27 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 64,539 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.56, for a total value of $2,940,396.84. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 170,285 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,758,184.60. This trade represents a 27.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 189,078 shares of company stock worth $9,120,541 over the last quarter. Company 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.