Gabelli Funds LLC Cuts Position in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Gabelli Funds LLC lowered its stake in shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 3.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 132,303 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 4,179 shares during the period. Gabelli Funds LLC’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $65,891,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of SPGI. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in S&P Global by 52.0% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 658,766 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $328,632,000 after purchasing an additional 225,370 shares during the period. Eastern Bank lifted its stake in shares of S&P Global by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 50,157 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $24,980,000 after purchasing an additional 1,530 shares during the period. Wealthfront Advisers LLC lifted its position in shares of S&P Global by 19.1% during the 4th quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 37,746 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $18,799,000 after acquiring an additional 6,051 shares during the period. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new stake in S&P Global during the third quarter worth $27,170,000. Finally, American Trust grew its stake in S&P Global by 76.2% in the 3rd quarter. American Trust now owns 2,518 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,301,000 after acquiring an additional 1,089 shares during the last quarter. 87.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on SPGI. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on S&P Global from $576.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup assumed coverage on S&P Global in a report on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $600.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com lowered shares of S&P Global from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on S&P Global from $599.00 to $608.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $595.14.

S&P Global Trading Up 1.4 %

S&P Global stock opened at $471.68 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $503.97 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $505.85. S&P Global Inc. has a 52-week low of $407.69 and a 52-week high of $545.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $148.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.19, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 27.12% and a return on equity of 14.33%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.13 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 26th were issued a dividend of $0.96 per share. This is a positive change from S&P Global’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $3.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 26th. S&P Global’s payout ratio is presently 31.09%.

About S&P Global

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.