As previously reported, Raymond James downgraded Lazard to Outperform from Strong Buy and maintained a $45 price target. Analyst Patrick O'Shaughnessy said shares are up 24% over the last six months and sees multiple factors that could impact M&A activity going forward including rising interest rates, continued European uncertainty surrounding Brexit, a potential cap on corporate interest expense deductibility, and reduced incentives for inversion-driven transactions. O'Shaughnessy still believes Lazard is undervalued relative to peers and thinks the conversion to a C corp status will drive multiple expansion.