First Bank & Trust Reduces Position in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

First Bank & Trust cut its holdings in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 1.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,965 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 59 shares during the quarter. First Bank & Trust’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $2,015,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in S&P Global in the fourth quarter worth $1,725,084,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of S&P Global by 60,982.3% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,139,101 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,086,877,000 after purchasing an additional 2,135,599 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of S&P Global during the 4th quarter valued at about $527,207,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of S&P Global by 19.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,276,043 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,631,568,000 after purchasing an additional 525,347 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in shares of S&P Global during the fourth quarter valued at about $238,503,000. 87.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on SPGI. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $607.00 to $627.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. UBS Group boosted their price target on S&P Global from $555.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Mizuho began coverage on shares of S&P Global in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $599.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on S&P Global from $618.00 to $565.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of S&P Global from $616.00 to $589.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, S&P Global currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $592.71.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Sally Moore sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $510.43, for a total transaction of $255,215.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 5,131 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,619,016.33. This represents a 8.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

S&P Global Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of SPGI opened at $529.51 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. S&P Global Inc. has a 12-month low of $427.14 and a 12-month high of $545.39. The business’s 50 day moving average is $509.23 and its 200 day moving average is $503.75. The company has a market capitalization of $162.40 billion, a PE ratio of 41.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.19.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The business services provider reported $4.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.23 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $3.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.72 billion. S&P Global had a net margin of 27.27% and a return on equity of 14.68%. S&P Global’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $4.01 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that S&P Global Inc. will post 17.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

S&P Global Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 26th will be issued a $0.96 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 26th. This represents a $3.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.73%. S&P Global’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.16%.

S&P Global Company 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.