O Keefe Stevens Advisory Inc. Acquires 3,831 Shares of Lazard, Inc. $LAZ

O Keefe Stevens Advisory Inc. raised its holdings in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 1.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 218,890 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,831 shares during the quarter. Lazard accounts for 3.0% of O Keefe Stevens Advisory Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position. O Keefe Stevens Advisory Inc.’s holdings in Lazard were worth $10,502,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Calton & Associates Inc. bought a new position in Lazard in the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Lazard by 57.2% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 918 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 334 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Lazard during the 1st quarter worth $50,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 773 shares during the period. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,117 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LAZ has been the subject of several research reports. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on Lazard in a research note on Friday. They set a “market perform” rating and a $56.00 price target for the company. Zacks Research downgraded Lazard from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Citigroup reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Lazard in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Lazard in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Lazard from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $60.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Monday, August 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Lazard has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $55.14.

Lazard Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of NYSE LAZ opened at $51.71 on Friday. Lazard, Inc. has a 52 week low of $31.97 and a 52 week high of $61.14. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $54.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $47.67. 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 cap of $5.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.83 and a beta of 1.37.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.14. Lazard had a return on equity of 34.33% and a net margin of 9.96%.The business had revenue of $796.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $674.13 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.52 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 16.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.9%. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lazard

In other Lazard 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 value of $34,163.29. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 32,475 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.09, for a total value of $1,756,572.75. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 183,274 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,913,290.66. The trade was a 15.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 108,092 shares of company stock valued at $6,030,986 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 3.86% of the company’s stock.

About Lazard

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.