National Pension Service Grows Stock Holdings in S&P Global Inc. $SPGI

National Pension Service increased its position in shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 607,355 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 18,397 shares during the period. National Pension Service’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $295,606,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of S&P Global by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,176 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,582,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in S&P Global by 7.8% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,038 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $547,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. USA Financial Formulas acquired a new stake in S&P Global in the second quarter worth about $250,000. Pure Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in S&P Global in the second quarter worth about $231,000. Finally, Naples Global Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of S&P Global by 24.8% during the second quarter. Naples Global Advisors LLC now owns 1,715 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $904,000 after acquiring an additional 341 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on SPGI. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $620.00 to $627.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. BMO Capital Markets set a $546.00 price target on shares of S&P Global in a report on Friday, November 14th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of S&P Global in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of S&P Global in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on S&P Global from $635.00 to $615.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and sixteen have given a Buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, S&P Global presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $615.64.

S&P Global Trading Down 0.3%

NYSE SPGI opened at $527.23 on Friday. S&P Global Inc. has a 1 year low of $427.14 and a 1 year high of $579.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The company has a market capitalization of $159.65 billion, a PE ratio of 38.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a fifty day moving average of $518.60 and a 200 day moving average of $517.41.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $4.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.26 by $0.47. The business had revenue of $3.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.77 billion. S&P Global had a return on equity of 15.90% and a net margin of 28.10%.The company’s revenue was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.89 EPS. Research analysts forecast that S&P Global Inc. will post 17.11 earnings per share for the current year.

S&P Global Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 25th will be given a dividend of $0.97 per share. This is an increase from S&P Global’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.96. This represents a $3.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 25th. S&P Global’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.93%.

About S&P Global

S&P Global is a leading provider of financial information, analytics and benchmark indices that serve investors, issuers, corporations and public institutions worldwide. The company operates through well-known businesses that include credit ratings, market intelligence and index licensing, as well as commodity and energy information services. Its products and services are used to assess creditworthiness, inform investment decisions, construct and track benchmark portfolios, and support risk and commodity market analysis.

S&P Global Ratings provides independent credit ratings, research and data used by fixed income investors and capital market participants to evaluate issuer and transaction risk.