Greenwood Capital Associates LLC Makes New Investment in Lazard, Inc. $LAZ

Key Points

• Greenwood Capital Associates LLC has initiated a new investment in Lazard, purchasing 19,710 shares valued at approximately $946,000 during the second quarter.
• Multiple institutional investors have significantly increased their holdings in Lazard, with Price T Rowe Associates growing its position by 2,324.4% in the first quarter.
• Lazard's CEO sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock, resulting in a 17.99% reduction in their ownership, while insiders have sold a total of 108,092 shares valued at over $6 million in the last 90 days.

Greenwood Capital Associates LLC bought a new position in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 19,710 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $946,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in LAZ. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of Lazard by 2,324.4% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,099,179 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $264,096,000 after purchasing an additional 5,847,608 shares in the last quarter. Amundi grew its position in shares of Lazard by 141.6% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 2,263,046 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $97,990,000 after purchasing an additional 1,326,370 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Lazard by 42.2% during the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,644,323 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $71,199,000 after acquiring an additional 487,574 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of Lazard by 31.6% during the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,690,943 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $73,214,000 after acquiring an additional 406,232 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Lazard during the 1st quarter worth approximately $10,998,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.80% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 50,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.95, for a total transaction of $2,847,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 227,915 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,979,759.25. This trade represents a 17.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Michael Gathy sold 617 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.37, for a total transaction of $34,163.29. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 108,092 shares of company stock valued at $6,030,986. Insiders own 3.86% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LAZ has been the topic of several analyst reports. Zacks Research lowered shares of Lazard from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Lazard from $47.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. JMP Securities set a $60.00 price target on shares of Lazard and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Lazard from $38.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Lazard from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $60.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Monday, August 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Lazard has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $55.14.

Lazard Price Performance

LAZ stock opened at $51.71 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $54.46 and a 200-day moving average price of $47.66. The company has a market capitalization of $5.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.83 and a beta of 1.37. Lazard, Inc. has a 52-week low of $31.97 and a 52-week high of $61.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 2.53 and a current ratio of 2.53.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $796.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $674.13 million. Lazard had a net margin of 9.96% and a return on equity of 34.33%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 16.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.52 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 EPS for the current year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.9%. Lazard's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.97%.

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.

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