Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC Buys New Shares in Lazard, Inc. $LAZ

Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Lazard, Inc. (NYSE:LAZ) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 16,087 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $772,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CWM LLC grew its holdings in shares of Lazard by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 19,558 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $847,000 after acquiring an additional 343 shares in the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in Lazard during the first quarter worth about $237,000. Jackson Hole Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in Lazard by 5.0% during the first quarter. Jackson Hole Capital Partners LLC now owns 36,229 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,569,000 after purchasing an additional 1,735 shares during the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. grew its stake in Lazard by 2.6% in the first quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 14,549 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $630,000 after purchasing an additional 375 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers increased its position in shares of Lazard by 54.5% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 21,854 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $946,000 after purchasing an additional 7,710 shares during the last quarter. 54.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Michael Gathy sold 617 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.95, for a total value of $2,847,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 227,915 shares in the company, valued at $12,979,759.25. The trade was a 17.99% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 108,092 shares of company stock worth $6,030,986 over the last three months. Insiders own 3.86% of the company’s stock.

Lazard Trading Down 2.1%

Shares of Lazard stock opened at $46.64 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.92, a current ratio of 2.58 and a quick ratio of 2.53. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $51.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $50.07. Lazard, Inc. has a 1 year low of $31.97 and a 1 year high of $60.13. The company has a market capitalization of $5.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.44 and a beta of 1.38.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 23rd. The asset manager reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $782.43 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $739.91 million. Lazard had a net margin of 8.89% and a return on equity of 35.02%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.38 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Lazard, Inc. will post 4.24 EPS for the current year.

Lazard Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 3rd were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 3rd. Lazard’s dividend payout ratio is currently 79.05%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LAZ has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Zacks Research cut Lazard from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Lazard in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $46.00 price target on shares of Lazard and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Lazard from $47.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of Lazard from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $55.00.

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.