Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. reduced its stake in shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 17.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 127,161 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 27,084 shares during the period. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $63,330,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in S&P Global by 52.0% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 658,766 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $328,632,000 after purchasing an additional 225,370 shares in the last quarter. GDS Wealth Management raised its position in shares of S&P Global by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. GDS Wealth Management now owns 27,358 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $14,134,000 after purchasing an additional 1,801 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its position 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 during the period. Eastern Bank lifted its stake 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 buying an additional 1,530 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new position in S&P Global in the 3rd quarter worth $27,170,000. 87.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on SPGI. Evercore ISI raised their price target on S&P Global from $599.00 to $608.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on S&P Global from $617.00 to $633.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on S&P Global from $595.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $590.00 to $580.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of S&P Global from $576.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, S&P Global presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $590.23.

S&P Global Stock Down 3.3 %

Shares of NYSE SPGI opened at $497.35 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $153.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20. S&P Global Inc. has a 12-month low of $407.69 and a 12-month high of $545.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $515.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $511.68.

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, 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.13 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that S&P Global Inc. will post 17.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

S&P Global Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th will be issued a $0.96 dividend. This represents a $3.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 26th. This is a positive change from S&P Global’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. S&P Global’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.