12,500 Shares in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) Bought by Absolute Gestao de Investimentos Ltda.

Absolute Gestao de Investimentos Ltda. acquired a new position in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 12,500 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $644,000. Lazard comprises about 0.3% of Absolute Gestao de Investimentos Ltda.'s portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest holding.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Lazard during the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in Lazard in the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Lazard in the fourth quarter valued at about $46,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Lazard by 54.3% during the 4th quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 977 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 344 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lazard in the 4th quarter worth approximately $53,000. Institutional investors own 54.80% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on LAZ shares. UBS Group increased their price objective on Lazard from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Lazard from $51.00 to $44.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. JMP Securities reissued a "market outperform" rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Lazard in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Lazard from $44.00 to $38.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lazard has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $46.83.

Insider Transactions at Lazard

In related news, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 64,539 shares of Lazard 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 170,285 shares in the company, valued at $7,758,184.60. This trade represents a 27.48 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 25,000 shares of the business's 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 completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 189,078 shares of company stock worth $9,120,541. 3.86% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Lazard Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:LAZ traded down $0.49 on Tuesday, hitting $40.00. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,403,193 shares, compared to its average volume of 960,506. Lazard, Inc. has a 1 year low of $31.97 and a 1 year high of $61.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72, a current ratio of 2.24 and a quick ratio of 2.24. The company has a market capitalization of $4.51 billion, a PE ratio of 15.04 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $41.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $49.16.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The asset manager reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.27. The business had revenue of $669.16 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $698.39 million. Lazard had a net margin of 8.98% and a return on equity of 44.58%. Lazard's revenue for the quarter was down 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.66 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 5th. Lazard's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 69.69%.

About Lazard

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.