M&T Bank Corp Buys 1,356,800 Shares of Lazard, Inc. $LAZ

Key Points

• M&T Bank Corp increased its stake in Lazard by 2,763.4%, buying 1,356,800 shares in Q4 and now owns 1,405,899 shares (about 1.25% of the company) valued at $68.27 million.
• Company insiders sold a total of 80,999 shares worth $3.29 million over the past 90 days — including sales by Christopher Hogbin and Peter Orszag — leaving insiders with roughly 0.95% ownership.
• Analyst views are mixed: MarketBeat shows a consensus of "Hold" with an average price target of $52.50, while individual ratings range from Bank of America's buy ($65) to Morgan Stanley's underweight ($52) and a Zacks downgrade to strong sell.

M&T Bank Corp increased its stake in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ - Free Report) by 2,763.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,405,899 shares of the asset manager's stock after acquiring an additional 1,356,800 shares during the quarter. M&T Bank Corp owned 1.25% of Lazard worth $68,270,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Lazard by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,180,752 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $590,120,000 after acquiring an additional 245,205 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Lazard by 9.3% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,108,229 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $101,153,000 after acquiring an additional 180,244 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Lazard by 11.3% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,884,093 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $99,442,000 after acquiring an additional 192,008 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Lazard by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,722,504 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $90,914,000 after acquiring an additional 20,591 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Lazard by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,620,282 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $85,522,000 after acquiring an additional 101,763 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 54.80% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Lazard

In related news, CEO Christopher Hogbin sold 3,944 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.37, for a total value of $155,275.28. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,829 shares in the company, valued at approximately $465,707.73. The trade was a 25.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 69,170 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.76, for a total value of $2,819,369.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 210,942 shares in the company, valued at $8,597,995.92. This represents a 24.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 80,999 shares of company stock worth $3,292,962 over the last 90 days. 0.95% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on LAZ shares. Citigroup reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Lazard in a report on Friday, April 10th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Lazard in a report on Friday, March 27th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Lazard from $59.00 to $52.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Lazard from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Friday, April 10th. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on shares of Lazard in a report on Monday, January 26th. They set a "buy" rating and a $65.00 price objective on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $52.50.

Lazard Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:LAZ opened at $48.78 on Wednesday. The company's 50-day moving average is $45.87 and its 200 day moving average is $49.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 2.28 and a current ratio of 2.28. The company has a market capitalization of $5.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.42 and a beta of 1.42. Lazard, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $35.18 and a fifty-two week high of $58.75.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $892.11 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $876.32 million. Lazard had a net margin of 7.49% and a return on equity of 33.04%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.78 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Lazard, Inc. will post 3.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 20th. Investors of record on Monday, February 9th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 9th. Lazard's payout ratio is currently 91.74%.

About Lazard

Lazard Ltd. NYSE: LAZ is a leading global financial advisory and asset management firm, offering a comprehensive suite of services to corporations, governments and individuals. Founded in 1848, Lazard has built a reputation for providing independent advice and innovative solutions in complex financial transactions. The firm is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol LAZ and maintains its headquarters in Hamilton, Bermuda.

In its Financial Advisory segment, Lazard assists clients with mergers and acquisitions, restructurings, capital structure optimization and strategic planning.

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