Principal Financial Group Inc. Buys 15,456 Shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 4.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 365,737 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 15,456 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.12% of S&P Global worth $188,948,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC lifted its stake in shares of S&P Global by 13.9% in the third quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 359,572 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $185,762,000 after buying an additional 43,864 shares in the last quarter. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new position in S&P Global in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,170,000. American Trust boosted its stake in S&P Global by 76.2% during the 3rd quarter. American Trust now owns 2,518 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,301,000 after purchasing an additional 1,089 shares during the last quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of S&P Global by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 27,741 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $14,332,000 after purchasing an additional 229 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of S&P Global by 78.7% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 30,022 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $15,510,000 after purchasing an additional 13,226 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on SPGI shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on S&P Global from $575.00 to $620.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of S&P Global from $605.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of S&P Global from $536.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Raymond James cut S&P Global from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $573.23.

S&P Global Stock Down 0.7 %

NYSE SPGI opened at $486.56 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $507.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $492.26. The company has a market capitalization of $150.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. S&P Global Inc. has a 52 week low of $407.69 and a 52 week high of $533.29.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last issued 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.43 billion. S&P Global had a net margin of 25.80% and a return on equity of 13.72%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.21 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that S&P Global Inc. will post 15.24 earnings per share for the current year.

S&P Global Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th were paid a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.75%. S&P Global’s payout ratio is presently 32.13%.

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.