Oppenheimer Boosts S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) Price Target to $482.00

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) had its target price hoisted by equities researchers at Oppenheimer from $480.00 to $482.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the business services provider’s stock. Oppenheimer’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 15.76% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on SPGI. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $480.00 to $483.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of S&P Global from $422.00 to $452.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of S&P Global from $500.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of S&P Global in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of S&P Global in a report on Friday, February 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $462.60.

S&P Global Price Performance

NYSE:SPGI traded up $0.88 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $416.38. 660,616 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,349,838. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. S&P Global has a 1 year low of $340.49 and a 1 year high of $461.16. The company has a market cap of $133.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.15. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $423.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $417.07.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The business services provider reported $4.01 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.68 by $0.33. S&P Global had a net margin of 21.02% and a return on equity of 11.34%. The firm had revenue of $3.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.39 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that S&P Global will post 14.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at S&P Global

In related news, CEO Douglas L. Peterson sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $424.74, for a total transaction of $2,548,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 162,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $69,032,992.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On S&P Global

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of S&P Global by 13.2% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,579,943 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,769,787,000 after purchasing an additional 881,215 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its position in S&P Global by 8.2% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,658,865 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,067,807,000 after purchasing an additional 428,737 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its position in S&P Global by 12.6% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 5,502,039 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,423,762,000 after purchasing an additional 616,732 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in S&P Global in the 4th quarter worth about $1,652,862,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in S&P Global by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,275,029 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,196,728,000 after buying an additional 52,560 shares during the last quarter. 87.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About S&P Global

S&P Global Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides credit ratings, benchmarks, analytics, and workflow solutions in the global capital, commodity, and automotive markets. It operates through S&P Global Market Intelligence, S&P Global Ratings, S&P Global Commodity Insights, S&P Global Mobility, S&P Dow Jones Indices, and S&P Global Engineering Solutions segments.