HighTower Advisors LLC Acquires 2,730 Shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 1.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 176,532 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,730 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $87,918,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in SPGI. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in S&P Global in the fourth quarter worth $527,207,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of S&P Global by 71,024.1% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 619,491 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $308,525,000 after acquiring an additional 618,620 shares during the period. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new position in shares of S&P Global in the third quarter valued at about $224,976,000. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 369,598 shares during the period. Finally, Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new position in shares of S&P Global in the fourth quarter valued at about $144,091,000. 87.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SPGI has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $617.00 to $633.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Mizuho initiated coverage on shares of S&P Global in a research report on Wednesday. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $599.00 price objective on the stock. Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $590.00 to $580.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted 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 report on Thursday, February 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $590.86.

S&P Global Trading Down 0.3 %

NYSE:SPGI opened at $478.74 on Thursday. S&P Global Inc. has a one year low of $407.69 and a one year 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’s 50-day simple moving average is $514.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $511.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $147.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.76, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20.

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

S&P Global Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 26th were paid a dividend of $0.96 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 26th. This represents a $3.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. This is a positive change from S&P Global’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. S&P Global’s payout ratio is presently 31.09%.

S&P Global Company 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.