Harfst & Associates Inc. Makes New Investment in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Harfst & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 1,217 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $618,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Stegent Equity Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of S&P Global by 3.1% during the first quarter. Stegent Equity Advisors Inc. now owns 659 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $335,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Foster Dykema Cabot & Partners LLC lifted its stake in S&P Global by 0.7% in the first quarter. Foster Dykema Cabot & Partners LLC now owns 2,859 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,453,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC lifted its stake in S&P Global by 2.8% in the first quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 762 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $387,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the period. Hemington Wealth Management lifted its stake in S&P Global by 8.0% in the first quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 284 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $144,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the period. Finally, Retirement Planning Group LLC lifted its stake in S&P Global by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Retirement Planning Group LLC now owns 5,762 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,870,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

S&P Global Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of SPGI opened at $562.53 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $171.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.19. S&P Global Inc. has a 1 year low of $427.14 and a 1 year high of $566.56. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $528.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $512.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $4.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.18 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.65 billion. S&P Global had a return on equity of 15.11% and a net margin of 27.30%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $4.04 EPS. As a group, equities 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 26th will be given a dividend of $0.96 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 26th. This represents a $3.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. S&P Global’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.54%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SPGI has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group increased their price objective on S&P Global from $575.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on S&P Global from $595.00 to $615.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on S&P Global from $616.00 to $589.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Barclays increased their price objective on S&P Global from $610.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Argus upgraded S&P Global to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, S&P Global presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $611.69.

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.