Alta Advisers Ltd Acquires 137 Shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Alta Advisers Ltd raised its stake in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 15.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,037 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 137 shares during the quarter. Alta Advisers Ltd’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $516,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in S&P Global by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,589,982 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,273,264,000 after purchasing an additional 116,208 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of S&P Global in the 4th quarter valued at $1,725,084,000. Amundi boosted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 145,434 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in S&P Global by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,999,467 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $995,795,000 after acquiring an additional 62,770 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cantillon Capital Management LLC grew its position in S&P Global by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,868,814 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $930,725,000 after acquiring an additional 9,880 shares during the last quarter. 87.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on SPGI. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on S&P Global from $633.00 to $607.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of S&P Global from $576.00 to $590.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Mizuho began coverage on shares of S&P Global in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $599.00 price target for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on S&P Global from $618.00 to $565.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer reduced their price target on S&P Global from $590.00 to $580.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $591.86.

S&P Global Trading Down 3.0 %

SPGI opened at $448.89 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $497.69 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $504.02. 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 cap of $140.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The business services provider reported $3.77 EPS 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 period last year, the business posted $3.13 earnings per share. Analysts predict that S&P Global Inc. will post 17.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

S&P Global Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th were given a dividend of $0.96 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 26th. This is an increase from S&P Global’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $3.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.86%. S&P Global’s payout ratio is presently 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.