Wednesday's Financial Winners & Losers

Lehman Brothers (LEH Quote), meanwhile, hiked up its annual dividend by 8 cents to 68 cents a share and said it would bring its share-repurchase authorization back to the 100-million-share sum it had established a year ago. That amount takes into account the diluting effect of stock option grants. Lehman shares were up 71 cents, or 1.1%, to $63.24.

Insurer Chubb (CB Quote) tacked on 3.5% at $52.66 after fourth-quarter operating income added 9.6% year over year to $1.60 a share, beating the consensus estimate by 13 cents a share. Asset manager Lazard (LAZ Quote) also came in ahead for the quarter, and Oppenheimer (OPY Quote) more than doubled its earnings to $26.5 million, or $1.94 a share, vs. a year ago.

Lazard shares were taking back 5.9% to $37.75 as Oppenheimer leapt 8.3% to $42.72.

Elsewhere in the green, South Financial (TSFG Quote), of South Carolina, gained 6% to $17.04 following a Keefe Bruyette bump to market perform from underperform. And Marsh & McLennan (MMC Quote), a New York-based insurance broker, garnered upgrades at both Stifel Nicolaus and Credit Suisse after it installed Ace (ACE Quote) founder Brian Duperreault as its new CEO.

MMC said last month that it would oust Michael Cherkasky from the chief executive role as soon as it found a fitting replacement, citing a worse-than-expected financial performance in 2007. Shares were rising 2.3% to $28 in recent trading.