Advisors Asset Management Inc. Buys 482 Shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,887 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 482 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $10,402,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SPGI. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in S&P Global by 52.0% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 658,766 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $328,632,000 after purchasing an additional 225,370 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of S&P Global by 12.6% during the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 27,598 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $14,198,000 after purchasing an additional 3,093 shares in the last quarter. Eastern Bank increased its holdings in shares of S&P Global by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 50,157 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $24,980,000 after purchasing an additional 1,530 shares in the last quarter. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new stake in S&P Global in the 3rd quarter worth $27,170,000. Finally, Eagle Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in S&P Global by 53.8% in the 3rd quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,536 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,784,000 after acquiring an additional 1,936 shares in the last quarter. 87.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on SPGI. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of S&P Global from $599.00 to $608.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. StockNews.com cut shares of S&P Global from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. UBS Group upped their target price 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. Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of S&P Global in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $599.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Citigroup began coverage on shares of S&P Global in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $600.00 price target on the stock. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $590.86.

S&P Global Price Performance

SPGI stock opened at $490.26 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. S&P Global Inc. has a 52-week low of $407.69 and a 52-week high of $545.39. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $513.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $510.73. The company has a market capitalization of $150.90 billion, a PE ratio of 39.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The business services provider reported $3.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 period in the prior year, the business posted $3.13 earnings per share. Analysts predict 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th were issued a $0.96 dividend. This represents a $3.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.78%. This is an increase from S&P Global’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 26th. S&P Global’s payout ratio is 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.