Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Buys 2,169 Shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. grew its stake in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 8.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 28,113 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,169 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Lazard were worth $1,447,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd bought a new position in shares of Lazard in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,647,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Lazard by 128.4% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 678,617 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $34,935,000 after purchasing an additional 381,546 shares during the period. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC raised its position in shares of Lazard by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 184,965 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $9,522,000 after purchasing an additional 738 shares during the period. Paradigm Asset Management Co. LLC bought a new position in shares of Lazard in the fourth quarter valued at about $674,000. Finally, O Brien Greene & Co. Inc raised its position in shares of Lazard by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. O Brien Greene & Co. Inc now owns 27,000 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,390,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. 54.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.32, for a total value of $1,383,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 163,448 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,041,943.36. This trade represents a 13.27 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 3.86% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Lazard Trading Down 2.9 %

Shares of Lazard stock opened at $48.70 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.31 and a beta of 1.41. 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, Inc. has a 12-month low of $35.56 and a 12-month high of $61.14. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $51.63 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $51.92.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.09. Lazard had a net margin of 8.98% and a return on equity of 44.58%. On average, analysts forecast that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.11%. Lazard’s payout ratio is currently 75.19%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on LAZ. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Lazard from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Lazard from $51.00 to $44.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Lazard from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Lazard from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Lazard from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.33.

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.