Balentine LLC Makes New Investment in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Balentine LLC purchased a new stake in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 998 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $516,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA raised its stake in S&P Global by 107.2% during the 2nd quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA now owns 5,725 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,798,000 after acquiring an additional 2,962 shares in the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in S&P Global in the first quarter worth about $2,236,000. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its position in S&P Global by 21.6% in the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 34,683 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $14,756,000 after buying an additional 6,162 shares in the last quarter. Nwam LLC grew its position in S&P Global by 45.5% in the 1st quarter. Nwam LLC now owns 1,043 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $446,000 after buying an additional 326 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Banco Santander S.A. increased its stake in S&P Global by 38.9% during the 1st quarter. Banco Santander S.A. now owns 14,696 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,252,000 after buying an additional 4,114 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

S&P Global Stock Performance

S&P Global stock opened at $489.70 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The company has a market cap of $151.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.18. S&P Global Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $381.33 and a fifty-two week high of $533.29. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $511.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $474.68.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The business services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.64 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $3.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.43 billion. S&P Global had a net margin of 25.80% and a return on equity of 13.72%. The company’s revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.21 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that S&P Global Inc. will post 15.16 EPS for the current year.

S&P Global Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be paid a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 26th. S&P Global’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.13%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on SPGI shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of S&P Global from $564.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. UBS Group lifted their price target on S&P Global from $605.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on S&P Global from $500.00 to $552.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on S&P Global from $575.00 to $620.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of S&P Global from $536.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, S&P Global presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $571.31.

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, S&P Dow Jones Indices, and S&P Global Engineering Solutions segments.