Everhart Financial Group Inc. Grows Stock Position in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ)

Everhart Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) by 10.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 9,376 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 854 shares during the quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Lazard were worth $406,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new position in shares of Lazard in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $947,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in 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 worth $34,935,000 after buying an additional 381,546 shares in the last quarter. Monument Capital Management purchased a new position in Lazard during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,809,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Lazard by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,862,389 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $95,876,000 after buying an additional 90,152 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealthfront Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Lazard during the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,735,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Lazard

In related news, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 64,539 shares of the business’s 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 directly owns 170,285 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,758,184.60. The trade was a 27.48% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 2.26% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LAZ has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Lazard in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Lazard from $44.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Lazard from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. 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 report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Lazard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Lazard presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $44.33.

Lazard Price Performance

NYSE:LAZ opened at $43.06 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. The company has a market capitalization of $4.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.19 and a beta of 1.32. Lazard, Inc. has a 52 week low of $31.97 and a 52 week high of $61.14. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $41.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $46.99.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The asset manager reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.27. The firm had revenue of $669.16 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $698.39 million. Lazard had a return on equity of 44.58% and a net margin of 8.98%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.66 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 EPS for the current year.

Lazard Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Investors of record on Monday, May 5th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 5th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.64%. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 69.69%.

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.