Eagle Asset Management Inc. Increases Holdings in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Eagle Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 53.8% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 5,536 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,936 shares during the period. Eagle Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $2,784,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of S&P Global by 1.4% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,936,697 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,000,536,000 after purchasing an additional 26,300 shares during the period. Smithfield Trust Co grew its stake in shares of S&P Global by 18.7% in the 3rd quarter. Smithfield Trust Co now owns 1,479 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $766,000 after buying an additional 233 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of S&P Global by 15.1% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 31,737 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $16,396,000 after buying an additional 4,160 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of S&P Global by 9.6% during the 3rd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 253,338 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $130,880,000 after buying an additional 22,159 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of S&P Global by 26.7% during the 3rd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 18,879 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $9,753,000 after buying an additional 3,983 shares during the period. 87.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SPGI has been the subject of several analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on S&P Global from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on S&P Global from $564.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $589.00 to $564.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price 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. Finally, Raymond James downgraded shares of S&P Global from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $571.31.

S&P Global Trading Up 1.1 %

SPGI opened at $520.34 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $509.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $483.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.94. S&P Global Inc. has a 12 month low of $407.69 and a 12 month high of $533.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $161.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.93, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 1.18.

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

S&P Global Dividend Announcement

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

S&P Global 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.