JPMorgan Chase & Co. Decreases Stock Holdings in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. lessened its position in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ - Free Report) by 16.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 158,604 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 30,641 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned approximately 0.14% of Lazard worth $8,165,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LAZ. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. bought a new position in shares of Lazard during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Lazard during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lazard during the 4th quarter worth $46,000. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new stake in Lazard in the fourth quarter worth about $53,000. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC raised its holdings in shares of Lazard by 85.8% in the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 1,137 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 525 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 54.80% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley downgraded Lazard from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $56.00 to $33.00 in a research report on Monday, April 7th. UBS Group raised their target price on Lazard from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. JMP Securities reduced their price target on shares of Lazard from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a "market outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Lazard from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Lazard from $51.00 to $44.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Lazard has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $46.83.

Insider Transactions at Lazard

In related 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 170,285 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,758,184.60. This represents a 27.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 35,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.64, for a total transaction of $1,877,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 188,448 shares in the company, valued at $10,108,350.72. This represents a 15.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 189,078 shares of company stock worth $9,120,541. Company insiders own 2.26% of the company's stock.

Lazard Trading Up 1.7 %

Lazard stock traded up $0.60 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $35.47. The company's stock had a trading volume of 695,820 shares, compared to its average volume of 940,433. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $44.62 and a 200-day moving average price of $50.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72, a current ratio of 2.24 and a quick ratio of 2.24. Lazard, Inc. has a 12 month low of $31.97 and a 12 month high of $61.14. The stock has a market cap of $4.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.33 and a beta of 1.27.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.09. Lazard had a return on equity of 44.58% and a net margin of 8.98%. As a group, analysts forecast that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 EPS for the current year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.64%. Lazard's dividend payout ratio is currently 75.19%.

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.