Lesa Sroufe & Co Sells 1,840 Shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Lesa Sroufe & Co lessened its position in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 3.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 52,641 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,840 shares during the period. Lazard comprises 1.9% of Lesa Sroufe & Co’s holdings, making the stock its 25th largest position. Lesa Sroufe & Co’s holdings in Lazard were worth $1,832,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of LAZ. Larson Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Lazard in the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Lazard in the 3rd quarter valued at about $60,000. Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC bought a new position in shares of Lazard in the 3rd quarter valued at about $102,000. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Lazard in the 3rd quarter valued at about $134,000. Finally, Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. acquired a new stake in Lazard in the 3rd quarter valued at about $210,000. Institutional investors own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Lazard

In other news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.35, for a total transaction of $2,951,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 227,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,950,078.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 3.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LAZ has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $51.00 target price on shares of Lazard in a research note on Monday, January 29th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $58.00 target price on shares of Lazard in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Lazard from a “d+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Lazard from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Lazard has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.00.

Lazard Trading Up 3.0 %

Shares of LAZ stock opened at $39.65 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $39.25 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $35.23. The company has a quick ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.51. The company has a market capitalization of $4.47 billion, a PE ratio of -40.87 and a beta of 1.46. Lazard, Inc. has a 12-month low of $25.82 and a 12-month high of $42.24.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The asset manager reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $825.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $666.56 million. Lazard had a negative net margin of 2.93% and a positive return on equity of 16.43%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.69 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Lazard, Inc. will post 3.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 12th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.04%. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio is presently -206.18%.

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.