S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) Shares Acquired by Freedom Day Solutions LLC

Freedom Day Solutions LLC boosted its holdings in shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 1.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 7,630 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 119 shares during the period. S&P Global accounts for about 1.1% of Freedom Day Solutions LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Freedom Day Solutions LLC’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $3,800,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new position in shares of S&P Global in the third quarter worth about $27,000. First Personal Financial Services purchased a new stake in shares of S&P Global during the third quarter worth about $29,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in shares of S&P Global during the third quarter worth about $31,000. Human Investing LLC purchased a new stake in shares of S&P Global during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of S&P Global by 77.1% during the third quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 62 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. 87.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on SPGI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $600.00 to $585.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $576.00 to $590.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com cut shares of S&P Global from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $590.00 to $580.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $536.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $590.23.

S&P Global Stock Performance

S&P Global stock opened at $542.61 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $509.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $508.41. S&P Global Inc. has a 1-year low of $407.69 and a 1-year high of $545.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The stock has a market cap of $167.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.20.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The business services provider reported $3.77 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.41 by $0.36. S&P Global had a net margin of 27.12% and a return on equity of 14.33%. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.13 EPS. On average, analysts expect that S&P Global Inc. will post 17.11 EPS for the current year.

S&P Global Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th will be issued a dividend of $0.96 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 26th. This is a positive change from S&P Global’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $3.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.71%. S&P Global’s dividend payout ratio is 31.09%.

About S&P Global

S&P Global, Inc engages in the provision of transparent and independent ratings, benchmarks, analytics, and data to the capital and commodity markets worldwide. It operates through the following segments: Market Intelligence, Ratings, Commodity Insights, Mobility, Indices, and Engineering Solutions.