First National Trust Co Buys 21,988 Shares of Lazard, Inc. $LAZ

First National Trust Co lifted its stake in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 62.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 57,194 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 21,988 shares during the period. First National Trust Co owned approximately 0.05% of Lazard worth $2,744,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in LAZ. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Lazard by 2,324.4% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,099,179 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $264,096,000 after acquiring an additional 5,847,608 shares during the period. Amundi boosted its holdings in shares of Lazard by 141.6% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 2,263,046 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $97,990,000 after acquiring an additional 1,326,370 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Lazard by 42.2% in the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,644,323 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $71,199,000 after acquiring an additional 487,574 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Lazard by 31.6% in the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,690,943 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $73,214,000 after acquiring an additional 406,232 shares during the period. Finally, GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Lazard in the second quarter worth $14,772,000. 54.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on LAZ. Citigroup reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Lazard in a research report on Monday, July 14th. JMP Securities set a $60.00 price objective on Lazard and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $46.00 price objective on Lazard and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Lazard from $47.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets began coverage on Lazard in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $56.00 price objective on the stock. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.00.

Lazard Trading Down 2.7%

NYSE LAZ opened at $48.94 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $53.31 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $48.72. Lazard, Inc. has a twelve month low of $31.97 and a twelve month high of $61.14. The company has a quick ratio of 2.53, a current ratio of 2.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15. The company has a market capitalization of $5.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.34 and a beta of 1.37.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The asset manager reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.17. Lazard had a return on equity of 37.15% and a net margin of 8.89%.The business had revenue of $782.43 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $739.91 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.38 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 3rd. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.1%. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 79.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lazard

In other news, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 32,475 shares of Lazard stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.09, for a total value of $1,756,572.75. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 183,274 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,913,290.66. The trade was a 15.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Michael Gathy sold 617 shares of Lazard stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.37, for a total value of $34,163.29. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 108,092 shares of company stock worth $6,030,986 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 2.26% of the company’s stock.

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.