EntryPoint Capital LLC Invests $202,000 in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 3,920 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $202,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Amundi raised its position in shares of Lazard by 31,967.0% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 936,676 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $46,886,000 after buying an additional 933,755 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Lazard by 128.4% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 678,617 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $34,935,000 after acquiring an additional 381,546 shares during the last quarter. Azora Capital LP acquired a new position in Lazard during the third quarter valued at approximately $13,560,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Lazard by 10.1% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,250,049 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $113,357,000 after purchasing an additional 206,295 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Lazard in the 3rd quarter valued at $8,430,000. Institutional investors own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LAZ has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped 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. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Lazard from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Lazard from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Lazard from $63.00 to $56.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Lazard from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Lazard presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $54.17.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 64,539 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.24, for a total value of $2,919,744.36. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 234,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,623,437.76. The trade was a 21.56 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.32, for a total value of $1,383,000.00. Following the sale, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 189,078 shares of company stock valued at $9,120,541. 3.86% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Lazard Stock Performance

NYSE LAZ opened at $43.18 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.23 and a beta of 1.41. 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 twelve month low of $35.56 and a twelve month high of $61.14. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $50.09 and a 200 day simple moving average of $51.58.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 44.58% and a net margin of 8.98%. Sell-side analysts expect that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 EPS for the current year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The company 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.63%. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.