Hilltop National Bank Takes Position in Lazard, Inc. $LAZ

Hilltop National Bank bought a new stake in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 7,441 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $357,000.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Consolidated Planning Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Lazard in the second quarter valued at about $779,000. Truist Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Lazard by 1.2% in the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 25,191 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,209,000 after purchasing an additional 302 shares during the last quarter. Trivium Point Advisory LLC purchased a new position in Lazard in the second quarter valued at about $223,000. Centennial Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in Lazard in the second quarter valued at about $572,000. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Lazard by 8.3% in the second quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 77,839 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,735,000 after purchasing an additional 5,933 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Michael Gathy sold 617 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.37, for a total transaction of $34,163.29. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 32,475 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owned 183,274 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,913,290.66. This represents a 15.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 108,092 shares of company stock worth $6,030,986 in the last three months. 3.86% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Lazard Trading Down 1.1%

NYSE:LAZ opened at $51.71 on Friday. 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 business’s 50 day moving average is $54.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $47.66. Lazard, Inc. has a 52 week low of $31.97 and a 52 week high of $61.14. The company has a market cap of $5.83 billion, a PE ratio of 17.83 and a beta of 1.37.

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

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio is presently 68.97%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on LAZ. JMP Securities set a $60.00 price target on Lazard and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on Lazard in a report on Friday. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $56.00 price target for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Lazard from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $60.00 to $65.00 in a report on Monday, August 25th. Zacks Research downgraded Lazard from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Lazard in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.14.

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.