Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) Shares Sold by Interval Partners LP

Interval Partners LP reduced its stake in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ - Free Report) by 92.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,020 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 103,484 shares during the quarter. Interval Partners LP's holdings in Lazard were worth $464,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Graham Capital Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Lazard in the 4th quarter valued at $206,000. Focus Partners Wealth lifted its position in Lazard by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 37,253 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,918,000 after buying an additional 2,454 shares during the last quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc acquired a new position in Lazard in the fourth quarter valued at about $476,000. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its stake in Lazard by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 56,288 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $2,898,000 after buying an additional 838 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers increased its position in shares of Lazard by 19.5% during the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 14,144 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $728,000 after acquiring an additional 2,306 shares during the last quarter. 54.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 64,539 shares of the company's 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 170,285 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,758,184.60. This represents a 27.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 3.86% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on LAZ. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Lazard from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Lazard from $44.00 to $38.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Lazard in a research note on Monday, April 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Lazard from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Lazard from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $44.33.

Lazard Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:LAZ traded up $0.12 during trading on Friday, hitting $46.33. The company's stock had a trading volume of 970,815 shares, compared to its average volume of 974,530. Lazard, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $31.97 and a fifty-two week high of $61.14. The company has a market capitalization of $5.22 billion, a PE ratio of 17.42 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.24 and a current ratio of 2.24. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $40.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $48.74.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The asset manager reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.27. The company had revenue of $669.16 million during 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%. The firm's revenue was down 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.66 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 5th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 5th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.32%. Lazard's dividend payout ratio is currently 69.69%.

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.