Focus Partners Wealth Raises Holdings in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Focus Partners Wealth raised its position in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 32.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 215,527 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 52,505 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $107,690,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SPGI. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of S&P Global in the fourth quarter worth about $1,725,084,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in S&P Global in the 4th quarter worth approximately $527,207,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of S&P Global by 71,024.1% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 619,491 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $308,525,000 after purchasing an additional 618,620 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of S&P Global by 19.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,276,043 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,631,568,000 after purchasing an additional 525,347 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BlueSpruce Investments LP acquired a new stake in shares of S&P Global in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $178,858,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SPGI has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on S&P Global from $616.00 to $589.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of S&P Global from $576.00 to $590.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of S&P Global from $555.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. StockNews.com lowered shares of S&P Global from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on S&P Global from $618.00 to $565.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $592.71.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other S&P Global news, EVP Sally Moore sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $510.43, for a total transaction of $255,215.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 5,131 shares in the company, valued at $2,619,016.33. The trade was a 8.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

S&P Global Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE:SPGI opened at $507.44 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $486.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $501.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85. S&P Global Inc. has a 1 year low of $419.49 and a 1 year high of $545.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $155.63 billion, a PE ratio of 41.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The business services provider reported $4.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.23 by $0.14. S&P Global had a net margin of 27.12% and a return on equity of 14.33%. The firm had revenue of $3.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.72 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $4.01 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that S&P Global Inc. will post 17.11 EPS for the current year.

S&P Global Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 11th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 28th will be issued a $0.96 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 28th. This represents a $3.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.76%. S&P Global’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.16%.

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.