Values First Advisors Inc. Takes $233,000 Position in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Values First Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 530 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $233,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ritholtz Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of S&P Global by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 5,970 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,630,000 after acquiring an additional 213 shares during the last quarter. Trueblood Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of S&P Global in the 4th quarter worth $566,000. WASHINGTON TRUST Co grew its holdings in shares of S&P Global by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co now owns 46,018 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $20,272,000 after buying an additional 399 shares in the last quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC boosted its position in S&P Global by 13.4% during the 4th quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 1,145 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $505,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares during the period. Finally, Highland Capital Management LLC grew its stake in S&P Global by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC now owns 12,417 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,470,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. 87.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other S&P Global news, CEO Douglas L. Peterson sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $424.74, for a total value of $2,548,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 162,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $69,032,992.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of S&P Global from $422.00 to $452.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of S&P Global in a report on Friday, February 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, S&P Global has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $446.25.

S&P Global Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:SPGI traded up $2.10 on Thursday, reaching $424.91. The company had a trading volume of 1,881,566 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,347,971. S&P Global Inc. has a twelve month low of $329.46 and a twelve month high of $461.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $136.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.15. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $433.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $410.64.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The business services provider reported $3.13 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.15 by ($0.02). S&P Global had a return on equity of 11.34% and a net margin of 21.02%. The business had revenue of $3.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.13 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.54 EPS. S&P Global’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that S&P Global Inc. will post 14 EPS for the current year.

S&P Global Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 27th were given a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 26th. This is a boost from S&P Global’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. S&P Global’s payout ratio is currently 44.23%.

S&P Global Profile

S&P Global Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides credit ratings, benchmarks, analytics, and workflow solutions in the global capital, commodity, and automotive markets. It operates through S&P Global Market Intelligence, S&P Global Ratings, S&P Global Commodity Insights, S&P Global Mobility, and S&P Dow Jones Indices segments.