Long Term Returns of Nelson Peltz’s 5 Activist Targets

3. Legg Mason, Inc. (NYSE:LM)

Activist Investment: 2009
Long Term Returns Since Peltz’s Investment: 66%
S&P 500 Gain Since Peltz’s Investment: 125%

Legg Mason, Inc. (NYSE:LM) is an investment and asset management firm specializing in investment management and related services. Peltz joined the company’s board in 2009 after accumulating a 4.3% stake.

With his appointment, the asset management avoided a proxy fight with activist investors agreeing to vote in favor of the company’s board nominees over the next two years and not initiate any fight. However, with Peltz on the board, speculation was rife that he would engineer a push to take the asset managers private. 

Peltz would sell all his company positions and leave the board in 2014. The sale came after the company’s restructuring program. The firm needed help focusing on active money management as low-cost passive investing became the norm in the financial industry.

Nevertheless, Legg Mason, Inc. (NYSE:LM) received a boost in 2019 after it emerged that Peltz’s Trian hedge fund was contemplating a fight to turn around its fortunes. The asset management firm was struggling then, with reports indicating Peltz was planning to push for cost cuts and improve margins.