B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. Increases Stake in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its stake in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 6.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,623 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 264 shares during the quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $1,967,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Private Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in S&P Global during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of S&P Global during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group grew its position in shares of S&P Global by 64.1% during the fourth quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 64 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of S&P Global during the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Palisade Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of S&P Global during the first quarter worth about $37,000. 87.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

S&P Global Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SPGI traded down $3.78 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $484.73. The company had a trading volume of 1,644,227 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,262,620. S&P Global Inc. has a twelve month low of $340.49 and a twelve month high of $502.95. 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 stock has a market cap of $151.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.16. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $452.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $437.76.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The business services provider reported $4.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.67 by $0.37. S&P Global had a return on equity of 12.20% and a net margin of 22.01%. The company had revenue of $3.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.12 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that S&P Global Inc. will post 14.3 earnings per share for the current year.

S&P Global Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 27th. S&P Global’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 40.81%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SPGI has been the subject of a number of research reports. Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of S&P Global in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on S&P Global from $550.00 to $565.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on S&P Global from $500.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 5th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on S&P Global from $486.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on S&P Global from $530.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $526.73.

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.