UPDATE: Stifel Nicolaus Upgrades Gallagher (Arthur J.) & Co. to Hold

Stifel Nicolaus is out with its report today on Gallagher (Arthur J.) & Co. AJG, upgrading AJG from Sell to Hold. In a note to clients, Stifel Nicolaus writes, "We're not tooting our horn too loudly on this call, since on an absolute basis, the shares are significantly higher than where they were when we downgraded the shares to Sell in August 2009. Nevertheless, we don't see much more downside on either an absolute basis or relative to the other brokers, so we're upgrading the shares to Hold from [Sell]. On an EV/EBITDA basis, AJG currently trades in line with its peers (8.3x 2012E EBITDA, versus the peer group average of about 8.4x), so again, a Hold rating seems appropriate." Shares of AJG closed Wednesday at $29.34.