Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) Shares Acquired by BNP Paribas Financial Markets

BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ - Free Report) by 1,114.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 238,388 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 218,755 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets owned approximately 0.21% of Lazard worth $12,272,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new position in shares of Lazard in the 4th quarter valued at $947,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in Lazard by 128.4% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Monument Capital Management acquired a new position in Lazard in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,809,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Lazard by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,862,389 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $95,876,000 after buying an additional 90,152 shares during the period. Finally, Wealthfront Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Lazard during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,735,000. 54.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on LAZ shares. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Lazard from $51.00 to $44.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Lazard from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Lazard from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Monday. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Lazard in a report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Lazard from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Lazard currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $45.00.

Lazard Price Performance

Shares of LAZ traded up $0.38 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $46.36. 1,915,050 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 976,105. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $41.01 and a 200-day moving average of $48.84. Lazard, Inc. has a one year low of $31.97 and a one year high of $61.14. The firm has a market cap of $5.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.43 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72, a current ratio of 2.24 and a quick ratio of 2.24.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The asset manager reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.27. The company had revenue of $669.16 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.66 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict 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 will be paid on Friday, May 16th. Investors of record on Monday, May 5th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 5th. Lazard's payout ratio is 69.69%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 25,000 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 163,448 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,041,943.36. This trade represents a 13.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 64,539 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 170,285 shares in the company, valued at $7,758,184.60. This trade represents a 27.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 189,078 shares of company stock worth $9,120,541. 3.86% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.