S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) Research Coverage Started at StockNews.com

StockNews.com started coverage on shares of S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI – Get Rating) in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the business services provider’s stock.

SPGI has been the topic of several other research reports. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of S&P Global from $355.00 to $393.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Monday, November 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an outperform rating and set a $434.00 price objective on shares of S&P Global in a research report on Monday, March 6th. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $398.00 to $402.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, February 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $362.00 to $379.00 in a research report on Monday, December 5th. Finally, Credit Suisse Group boosted their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, February 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, S&P Global has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $393.56.

S&P Global Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of SPGI opened at $334.49 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $356.28 and its 200 day moving average is $341.36. S&P Global has a fifty-two week low of $279.32 and a fifty-two week high of $423.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $107.71 billion, a PE ratio of 31.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 0.94.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 9th. The business services provider reported $2.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.47 by $0.07. S&P Global had a net margin of 29.05% and a return on equity of 9.84%. The company had revenue of $2.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.88 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.15 earnings per share. S&P Global’s quarterly revenue was up 40.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that S&P Global will post 12.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

S&P Global Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 24th were issued a $0.90 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 23rd. This is a boost from S&P Global’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.08%. S&P Global’s dividend payout ratio is presently 34.29%.

Insider Transactions at S&P Global

In other news, CEO Douglas L. Peterson sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $360.52, for a total value of $2,703,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 160,816 shares in the company, valued at $57,977,384.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Douglas L. Peterson sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $360.52, for a total value of $2,703,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 160,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $57,977,384.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Saugata Saha sold 750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $369.47, for a total transaction of $277,102.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 3,337 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,232,921.39. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 11,749 shares of company stock worth $4,266,185. Insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of S&P Global

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bishop Rock Capital L.P. lifted its position in shares of S&P Global by 15,444.3% during the second quarter. Bishop Rock Capital L.P. now owns 5,570,928 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $16,528,000 after buying an additional 5,535,089 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of S&P Global during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,112,935,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of S&P Global by 11,089.7% during the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,230,227 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $914,794,000 after buying an additional 2,210,296 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of S&P Global by 60.3% during the second quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,490,342 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,850,574,000 after buying an additional 2,065,830 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Okabena Investment Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of S&P Global by 21,669.8% during the fourth quarter. Okabena Investment Services Inc. now owns 1,700,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,700,000 after buying an additional 1,692,191 shares during the last quarter. 87.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About S&P Global

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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. The Market Intelligence segment provides multi-asset-class data and analytics integrated with purpose-built workflow solutions.