National Bank of Canada FI Has $126,000 Stock Holdings in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

National Bank of Canada FI decreased its holdings in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 11.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,457 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 332 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI’s holdings in Lazard were worth $126,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Lazard by 1.8% in the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 40,425 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,028,000 after purchasing an additional 728 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Lazard by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,948,167 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $98,149,000 after buying an additional 55,469 shares during the period. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC increased its stake in shares of Lazard by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 28,142 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,418,000 after acquiring an additional 1,987 shares during the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Lazard in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $296,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Lazard by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,813,553 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $91,392,000 after acquiring an additional 15,151 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wolfe Research cut shares of Lazard from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Lazard from $51.00 to $44.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Lazard from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $56.00 to $33.00 in a research report on Monday, April 7th. StockNews.com lowered Lazard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on Lazard from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.83.

Lazard Trading Down 0.9 %

LAZ opened at $34.64 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.02 and a beta of 1.27. 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, Inc. has a 12 month low of $31.97 and a 12 month high of $61.14. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $46.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $50.62.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 44.58% and a net margin of 8.98%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid 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 5.77%. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio is currently 75.19%.

Insider Activity

In related news, 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 value 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. The trade was a 21.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 163,448 shares in the company, valued at $9,041,943.36. The trade was a 13.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 189,078 shares of company stock worth $9,120,541 over the last ninety days. 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.