AIA Group Ltd Sells 820 Shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

AIA Group Ltd trimmed its holdings in shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 6.5% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 11,742 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 820 shares during the quarter. AIA Group Ltd’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $5,966,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in S&P Global by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,176 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,582,000 after acquiring an additional 143 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG raised its stake in S&P Global by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 74,479 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $37,093,000 after acquiring an additional 2,413 shares during the period. GHE LLC raised its stake in S&P Global by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. GHE LLC now owns 13,504 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,725,000 after acquiring an additional 274 shares during the period. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its stake in S&P Global by 15.6% in the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 60,091 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,920,000 after acquiring an additional 8,128 shares during the period. Finally, Nicolet Bankshares Inc. raised its stake in S&P Global by 9.3% in the 4th quarter. Nicolet Bankshares Inc. now owns 495 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $247,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the period. 87.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

S&P Global Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of SPGI opened at $556.99 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $170.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.85, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.19. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $525.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $511.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. S&P Global Inc. has a 1 year low of $427.14 and a 1 year high of $566.42.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $4.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.18 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $3.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.65 billion. S&P Global had a return on equity of 15.11% and a net margin of 27.30%. S&P Global’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $4.04 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that S&P Global Inc. will post 17.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

S&P Global Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 26th will be given a $0.96 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 26th. This represents a $3.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. S&P Global’s payout ratio is presently 29.54%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on SPGI. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on S&P Global from $595.00 to $615.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Barclays boosted their price objective on S&P Global from $610.00 to $620.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on S&P Global from $604.00 to $621.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. UBS Group lifted their target price on S&P Global from $575.00 to $620.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on S&P Global from $629.00 to $603.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, S&P Global presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $611.69.

S&P Global Profile

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.