Bell Bank Trims Holdings in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Bell Bank decreased its position in shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,340 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 36 shares during the quarter. Bell Bank’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $1,165,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SPGI. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of S&P Global by 174,815.4% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 467,024 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $241,274,000 after purchasing an additional 466,757 shares in the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new stake in S&P Global in the third quarter valued at approximately $224,976,000. FMR LLC grew its holdings in S&P Global by 6.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,965,369 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,081,830,000 after purchasing an additional 369,598 shares during the period. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new stake in shares of S&P Global in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $144,091,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of S&P Global by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,868,375 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,581,580,000 after buying an additional 292,436 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SPGI has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of S&P Global from $600.00 to $585.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. StockNews.com cut shares of S&P Global from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of S&P Global from $576.00 to $590.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on S&P Global from $599.00 to $608.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on S&P Global from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, S&P Global has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $590.23.

S&P Global Trading Down 0.4 %

NYSE SPGI opened at $533.05 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $510.08 and its 200 day moving average price is $509.03. S&P Global Inc. has a 12 month low of $407.69 and a 12 month high of $545.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The company has a market capitalization of $164.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.20.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The business services provider reported $3.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.41 by $0.36. S&P Global had a return on equity of 14.33% and a net margin of 27.12%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.13 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that S&P Global Inc. will post 17.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

S&P Global Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th will be paid a $0.96 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 26th. This represents a $3.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.72%. This is a boost from S&P Global’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. S&P Global’s payout ratio is currently 29.47%.

S&P Global Profile

S&P Global, Inc engages in the provision of transparent and independent ratings, benchmarks, analytics, and data to the capital and commodity markets worldwide. It operates through the following segments: Market Intelligence, Ratings, Commodity Insights, Mobility, Indices, and Engineering Solutions.