North Star Investment Management Corp. Reduces Stock Position in Lazard, Inc. $LAZ

Key Points

• North Star Investment Management Corp. has significantly reduced its stake in Lazard, Inc. by 63.1%, selling 13,886 shares and holding 8,125 shares valued at approximately $390,000.
• Insiders at Lazard, including CEO Evan L. Russo, have sold a total of 108,092 shares over the last 90 days, with Russo's own stake decreasing by 17.99%.
• Analysts have mixed ratings on Lazard, with an average target price of $55.00, while some firms, like Citigroup and Wells Fargo, have upgraded their ratings, suggesting a potential for growth.

North Star Investment Management Corp. cut its holdings in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ - Free Report) by 63.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,125 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 13,886 shares during the quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp.'s holdings in Lazard were worth $390,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Calton & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Lazard during the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Lazard by 57.2% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 918 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 334 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Lazard during the 1st quarter worth approximately $50,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Lazard by 164.1% during the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,244 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 773 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Lazard by 170.8% during the 2nd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,771 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $85,000 after purchasing an additional 1,117 shares during the last quarter. 54.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Lazard

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LAZ has been the subject of several research reports. Citigroup reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Lazard in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Lazard from $38.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. JMP Securities set a $60.00 price objective on Lazard and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Lazard from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $60.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Monday, August 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Lazard from $47.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lazard has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $55.00.

Lazard Trading Down 2.2%

Shares of LAZ stock opened at $53.75 on Friday. 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, Inc. has a 1 year low of $31.97 and a 1 year high of $61.14. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $54.66 and a two-hundred day moving average of $47.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.06 billion, a PE ratio of 18.53 and a beta of 1.35.

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

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors 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 yield of 3.7%. Lazard's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.97%.

Lazard 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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