Epoch Investment Partners Inc. Trims Holdings in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Epoch Investment Partners Inc. decreased its position in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 0.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,831,689 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 12,689 shares during the quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. owned 1.62% of Lazard worth $94,295,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in Lazard during the fourth quarter worth about $947,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in Lazard by 128.4% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 678,617 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $34,935,000 after buying an additional 381,546 shares during the period. Monument Capital Management purchased a new stake in shares of Lazard during the fourth quarter worth $2,809,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised 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 valued at $95,876,000 after acquiring an additional 90,152 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealthfront Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Lazard in the fourth quarter valued at $3,735,000. 54.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Lazard Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE:LAZ opened at $35.47 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.33 and a beta of 1.27. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $44.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $50.11. Lazard, Inc. has a 52-week low of $31.97 and a 52-week high of $61.14. 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 (NYSE:LAZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.09. Lazard had a net margin of 8.98% and a return on equity of 44.58%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast 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, February 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 75.19%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 25,000 shares of the company’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 transaction of $1,383,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 163,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,041,943.36. This represents a 13.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 64,539 shares of Lazard stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The shares were 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 trade represents a 27.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 189,078 shares of company stock valued at $9,120,541 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 2.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on LAZ. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Lazard from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Lazard from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $56.00 to $33.00 in a research note on Monday, April 7th. JMP Securities reduced their price objective on shares of Lazard from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Lazard from $44.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Lazard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.83.

Lazard 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.