Great Lakes Advisors LLC Reduces Position in S&P Global Inc. $SPGI

Great Lakes Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 1.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 88,487 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,384 shares during the quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $43,069,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MTM Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of S&P Global in the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp acquired a new position in S&P Global during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Spurstone Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of S&P Global in the 2nd quarter valued at $34,000. Howard Hughes Medical Institute acquired a new position in S&P Global in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, First Pacific Financial raised its position in S&P Global by 51.0% during the third quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 74 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. 87.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on SPGI shares. Seaport Research Partners raised S&P Global to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of S&P Global from $629.00 to $632.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of S&P Global in a report on Monday, November 17th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target 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, BMO Capital Markets set a $546.00 price objective on S&P Global in a report on Friday, November 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and sixteen have given a Buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $615.64.

S&P Global Stock Up 0.3%

NYSE SPGI opened at $528.01 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. S&P Global Inc. has a 52 week low of $427.14 and a 52 week high of $579.05. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $517.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $517.35. The firm has a market cap of $159.88 billion, a PE ratio of 38.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.21.

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

S&P Global Increases Dividend

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

About S&P Global

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.