LPL Financial LLC Increases Stock Holdings in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

LPL Financial LLC increased its position in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 6.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 270,099 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 16,761 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC owned about 0.09% of S&P Global worth $134,556,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of SPGI. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in S&P Global by 3.4% in 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 acquiring an additional 292,436 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of S&P Global by 1.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,473,774 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,332,016,000 after purchasing an additional 113,146 shares in the last quarter. 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 worth $3,081,830,000 after purchasing an additional 369,598 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in S&P Global by 1.1% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,713,617 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,401,909,000 after purchasing an additional 28,458 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi lifted its position in S&P Global by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 2,345,377 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,162,979,000 after purchasing an additional 145,434 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SPGI has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of S&P Global from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on S&P Global from $595.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Citigroup started coverage on S&P Global in a research note on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $600.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on S&P Global from $617.00 to $633.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Mizuho started coverage on S&P Global in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $599.00 target price for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, S&P Global currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $590.86.

S&P Global Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of SPGI opened at $504.00 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $155.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.81, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $514.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $510.31. 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 twelve month low of $407.69 and a twelve month high of $545.39.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The business services provider reported $3.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that S&P Global Inc. will post 17.11 EPS for the current year.

S&P Global Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th were paid a dividend of $0.96 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 26th. This is a boost from S&P Global’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $3.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.76%. S&P Global’s payout ratio is 31.09%.

About S&P Global

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.