Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. Has $404,000 Holdings in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. cut its holdings in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 8.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 927 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 86 shares during the period. Symphony Financial Ltd. Co.’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $404,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. BCK Partners Inc. bought a new stake in S&P Global during the first quarter worth about $1,969,000. Markel Corp lifted its position in S&P Global by 0.8% during the first quarter. Markel Corp now owns 149,790 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $61,441,000 after purchasing an additional 1,250 shares during the period. Synovus Financial Corp lifted its position in S&P Global by 1.6% during the first quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 2,239 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $919,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in S&P Global by 115.4% during the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,154 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $883,000 after purchasing an additional 1,154 shares during the period. Finally, Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management lifted its position in S&P Global by 12.4% during the first quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 736 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $302,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the period. 87.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on SPGI. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $422.00 to $452.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of S&P Global in a report on Friday, February 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, S&P Global presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $446.25.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Douglas L. Peterson sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $424.74, for a total value of $2,548,440.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 162,530 shares in the company, valued at $69,032,992.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

S&P Global Trading Up 0.6 %

NYSE SPGI traded up $2.64 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $425.45. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,881,566 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,404,374. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $433.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $410.74. The stock has a market cap of $136.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.15. S&P Global Inc. has a 52 week low of $329.46 and a 52 week high of $461.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The business services provider reported $3.13 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by ($0.02). S&P Global had a net margin of 21.02% and a return on equity of 11.34%. The firm 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 company posted $2.54 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that S&P Global Inc. will post 14 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 Tuesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 27th were given a dividend of $0.91 per share. 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. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.86%. S&P Global’s dividend payout ratio is currently 44.23%.

S&P Global Company 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.