TD Private Client Wealth LLC Reduces Holdings in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

TD Private Client Wealth LLC trimmed its stake in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 3.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 67,045 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 2,715 shares during the period. TD Private Client Wealth LLC’s holdings in Lazard were worth $3,451,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Lazard in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its position in Lazard by 268.9% during the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 60,716 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,126,000 after purchasing an additional 44,258 shares during the last quarter. Xponance Inc. grew its position in Lazard by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 13,987 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $720,000 after purchasing an additional 606 shares during the last quarter. one8zero8 LLC purchased a new position in Lazard during the 4th quarter worth $201,000. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its position in Lazard by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 37,945 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,953,000 after purchasing an additional 469 shares during the last quarter. 54.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Lazard from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Lazard from $63.00 to $56.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. StockNews.com raised shares of Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Lazard from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of Lazard from $51.00 to $44.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $54.17.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 25,000 shares of Lazard stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.32, for a total transaction of $1,383,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 163,448 shares in the company, valued at $9,041,943.36. The trade was a 13.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 64,539 shares of Lazard 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 234,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,623,437.76. This trade represents a 21.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 189,078 shares of company stock worth $9,120,541. Insiders own 3.86% of the company’s stock.

Lazard Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE LAZ opened at $45.91 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.24, a current ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72. Lazard, Inc. has a 52 week low of $35.56 and a 52 week high of $61.14. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $50.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $51.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.26 and a beta of 1.41.

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

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.36%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Lazard’s payout ratio is currently 75.19%.

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.