Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. Raises Stock Position in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. grew its position in shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 8.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,305 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 250 shares during the quarter. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $1,707,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of SPGI. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in S&P Global in the first quarter worth about $351,774,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in S&P Global by 174,815.4% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 467,024 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $241,274,000 after acquiring an additional 466,757 shares during the period. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new position in shares of S&P Global during the 3rd quarter worth $224,976,000. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of S&P Global by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,965,369 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,081,830,000 after acquiring an additional 369,598 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of S&P Global by 352.2% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 463,383 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $206,669,000 after purchasing an additional 360,909 shares in the last quarter. 87.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group boosted their price target on S&P Global from $605.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of S&P Global from $589.00 to $564.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Raymond James downgraded shares of S&P Global from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $536.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of S&P Global from $600.00 to $585.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $571.31.

S&P Global Price Performance

Shares of S&P Global stock traded down $1.69 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $517.91. 59,215 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,208,981. S&P Global Inc. has a 52-week low of $407.69 and a 52-week high of $533.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $509.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $483.13. The company has a market capitalization of $160.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 1.18.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The business services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.64 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $3.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.43 billion. S&P Global had a return on equity of 13.72% and a net margin of 25.80%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.21 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that S&P Global Inc. will post 15.24 EPS for the current year.

S&P Global Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 26th. S&P Global’s payout ratio is 32.13%.

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.