Sandy Spring Bank Grows Stock Position in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Sandy Spring Bank grew its position in shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 18.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 13,615 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,089 shares during the quarter. Sandy Spring Bank’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $6,781,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of S&P Global by 3.4% in the third 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 buying an additional 292,436 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of S&P Global by 1.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,473,774 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,332,016,000 after buying an additional 113,146 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in S&P Global by 6.6% during 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 in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in S&P Global by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,713,617 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,401,909,000 after purchasing an additional 28,458 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi grew its stake in S&P Global by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 2,345,377 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,162,979,000 after purchasing an additional 145,434 shares in the last quarter. 87.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on SPGI shares. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on S&P Global from $595.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on S&P Global from $576.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on S&P Global from $617.00 to $633.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. StockNews.com cut S&P Global from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Mizuho assumed coverage on S&P Global in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $599.00 target price on the stock. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, S&P Global has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $590.86.

S&P Global Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SPGI opened at $495.40 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $152.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.11, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $513.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $510.62. S&P Global Inc. has a 52-week low of $407.69 and a 52-week high of $545.39.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The business services provider reported $3.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.13 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that S&P Global Inc. will post 17.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

S&P Global Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th were paid a $0.96 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 26th. This represents a $3.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. This is an increase from S&P Global’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. S&P Global’s payout ratio is 31.09%.

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.