Principal Financial Group Inc. Decreases Stake in S&P Global Inc. $SPGI

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its stake in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 339,493 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 5,259 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $165,235,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of S&P Global in the second quarter valued at $2,188,945,000. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of S&P Global by 70,734.1% in the 2nd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,168,411 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,670,671,000 after purchasing an additional 3,163,938 shares in the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main boosted its stake in shares of S&P Global by 3,430.6% during the 2nd quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 1,554,571 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $819,699,000 after buying an additional 1,510,540 shares during the last quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. grew its position in shares of S&P Global by 7.0% during the second quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. now owns 11,091,623 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,848,502,000 after buying an additional 730,354 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mizuho Markets Americas LLC increased its stake in shares of S&P Global by 104,031.3% in the third quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC now owns 595,631 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $289,900,000 after buying an additional 595,059 shares during the last quarter. 87.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on SPGI. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $629.00 to $632.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $640.00 price objective on shares of S&P Global in a report on Tuesday, December 16th. Mizuho upped their price objective on S&P Global from $637.00 to $643.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on S&P Global from $625.00 to $599.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of S&P Global in a research report on Monday, December 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and sixteen have given a Buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $615.64.

S&P Global Trading Down 0.3%

NYSE:SPGI opened at $527.23 on Monday. S&P Global Inc. has a 12-month low of $427.14 and a 12-month high of $579.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $159.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $518.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $517.32.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $4.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.26 by $0.47. S&P Global had a return on equity of 15.90% and a net margin of 28.10%.The firm had revenue of $3.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.77 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.89 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that S&P Global Inc. will post 17.11 EPS for the current year.

S&P Global Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 25th will be given a $0.97 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. This is a boost from S&P Global’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.96. S&P Global’s payout ratio is 27.93%.

S&P Global Profile

S&P Global is a leading provider of financial information, analytics and benchmark indices that serve investors, issuers, corporations and public institutions worldwide. The company operates through well-known businesses that include credit ratings, market intelligence and index licensing, as well as commodity and energy information services. Its products and services are used to assess creditworthiness, inform investment decisions, construct and track benchmark portfolios, and support risk and commodity market analysis.

S&P Global Ratings provides independent credit ratings, research and data used by fixed income investors and capital market participants to evaluate issuer and transaction risk.