Marietta Investment Partners LLC Reduces Stake in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Marietta Investment Partners LLC lowered its holdings in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 44.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 524 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 411 shares during the quarter. Marietta Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $261,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of S&P Global in the 4th quarter valued at about $527,207,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of S&P Global by 71,024.1% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 619,491 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $308,525,000 after purchasing an additional 618,620 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of S&P Global by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,965,369 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,081,830,000 after purchasing an additional 369,598 shares during the period. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new stake in shares of S&P Global in the 4th quarter valued at about $144,091,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of S&P Global by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,868,375 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,581,580,000 after purchasing an additional 292,436 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

S&P Global Stock Performance

NYSE SPGI opened at $497.62 on Friday. S&P Global Inc. has a 1-year low of $407.69 and a 1-year high of $545.39. The company has a market capitalization of $153.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.29, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $513.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $510.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

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

S&P Global Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th were given a dividend of $0.96 per share. This is an increase from S&P Global’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 26th. This represents a $3.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.77%. S&P Global’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.09%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on S&P Global from $590.00 to $580.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on S&P Global from $576.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on S&P Global from $595.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. UBS Group increased their price objective on S&P Global from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on S&P Global from $599.00 to $608.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, S&P Global currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $590.86.

S&P Global Company 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.