Lazard price target raised to $36 from $33 at Goldman Sachs

Goldman Sachs raised the firm’s price target on Lazard to $36 from $33 but keeps a Sell rating on the shares. The company reported a “strong” Q4 earnings print with a constructive longer-term tone, as the management reiterated a cautiously optimistic long-term outlook for M&A, noting that “we are past the bottom in the M&A cycle” given an improving global macro outlook and improving financing markets, the analyst tells investors in a research note. The firm adds however that given the strength in M&A to finish out the year and the commentary around Q4 being the seasonally strongest quarter, it expects a substantial sequential revenue decline in Q1.