Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) Stake Lessened by Two Sigma Investments LP

Two Sigma Investments LP cut its holdings in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ - Free Report) by 22.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 686,615 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 200,824 shares during the quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP owned approximately 0.61% of Lazard worth $35,347,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in LAZ. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Lazard by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,788,512 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $555,393,000 after acquiring an additional 81,559 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of Lazard by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 4,429,776 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $228,045,000 after purchasing an additional 240,938 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Lazard by 26.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,297,249 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $118,294,000 after purchasing an additional 483,696 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew 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 worth $95,876,000 after purchasing an additional 90,152 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Lazard by 98.7% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,284,711 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $66,137,000 after buying an additional 638,169 shares during the last quarter. 54.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Lazard from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Lazard from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Lazard from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley downgraded Lazard from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and cut their price target for the stock from $56.00 to $33.00 in a report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Lazard from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Two equities research 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lazard presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $44.33.

Lazard Stock Performance

LAZ stock traded down $0.16 during trading on Monday, reaching $42.99. 518,650 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 980,853. Lazard, Inc. has a 1-year low of $31.97 and a 1-year high of $61.14. The firm has a market cap of $4.85 billion, a PE ratio of 16.16 and a beta of 1.28. The company's fifty day moving average price is $40.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $48.28. 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 (NYSE:LAZ - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The asset manager reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.27. Lazard had a net margin of 8.98% and a return on equity of 44.58%. The business had revenue of $669.16 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $698.39 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.66 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 5th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 5th. Lazard's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.69%.

Insider Transactions at Lazard

In other Lazard news, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 64,539 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The stock was 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,758,184.60. This represents a 27.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 3.86% of the company's stock.

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.