S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) have received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $467.89.

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $480.00 to $483.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of S&P Global in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on S&P Global from $442.00 to $446.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of S&P Global in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on S&P Global from $500.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd.

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On S&P Global

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in S&P Global during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,652,862,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in S&P Global by 13.2% during the 3rd 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. Capital International Investors grew 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 during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in S&P Global by 8.2% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,658,865 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,067,807,000 after purchasing an additional 428,737 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of S&P Global by 1,750.0% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 428,390 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $156,538,000 after buying an additional 405,234 shares during the last quarter. 87.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

S&P Global Stock Up 0.2 %

NYSE:SPGI opened at $429.21 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $422.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $420.97. S&P Global has a 1-year low of $340.49 and a 1-year high of $461.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $134.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.12, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.14.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The business services provider reported $4.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.68 by $0.33. The company had revenue of $3.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.39 billion. S&P Global had a return on equity of 12.20% and a net margin of 22.01%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that S&P Global will post 14.1 EPS for the current year.

S&P Global Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 28th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.85%. S&P Global’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.81%.

S&P Global Company Profile

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.