Rhumbline Advisers Has $5.53 Million Stock Holdings in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Rhumbline Advisers trimmed its position in shares of Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 1.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 127,613 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,715 shares during the quarter. Rhumbline Advisers’ holdings in Lazard were worth $5,526,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new stake in shares of Lazard during the fourth quarter valued at about $947,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of Lazard by 128.4% during 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 in the last quarter. Monument Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of Lazard in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,809,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Lazard by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,862,389 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $95,876,000 after acquiring an additional 90,152 shares during the period. Finally, Wealthfront Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lazard in the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,735,000. 54.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Lazard Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:LAZ opened at $44.12 on Friday. 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 twelve month low of $31.97 and a twelve month high of $61.14. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $40.93 and its 200-day moving average is $47.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.59 and a beta of 1.32.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last issued its earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The asset manager reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.27. Lazard had a return on equity of 44.58% and a net margin of 8.98%. The company had revenue of $669.16 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $698.39 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.66 earnings per share. Lazard’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 5th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 5th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.53%. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.69%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on LAZ shares. Wall Street Zen lowered Lazard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Lazard from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. 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. Morgan Stanley lowered Lazard from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $56.00 to $33.00 in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Lazard from $44.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Two research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $44.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lazard

In other news, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 64,539 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.56, for a total transaction 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 2.26% 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.