Ritholtz Wealth Management Raises Stock Holdings in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Ritholtz Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 3.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,970 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 213 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $2,630,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SPGI. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of S&P Global during the 4th quarter worth $1,112,935,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its stake in S&P Global by 11,089.7% in the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,230,227 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $914,794,000 after purchasing an additional 2,210,296 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in S&P Global by 49.9% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,318,418 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,446,412,000 after buying an additional 1,437,116 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in S&P Global by 39.5% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,727,874 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,529,100,000 after buying an additional 1,056,097 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in S&P Global by 113,163.2% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,005,777 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $336,875,000 after buying an additional 1,004,889 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

S&P Global Stock Up 0.5 %

NYSE:SPGI traded up $2.10 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $424.91. The company had a trading volume of 1,881,566 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,347,971. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $433.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $410.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $136.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.77, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.15. S&P Global Inc. has a 1 year low of $329.46 and a 1 year high of $461.16. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The business services provider reported $3.13 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.15 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $3.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.13 billion. S&P Global had a net margin of 21.02% and a return on equity of 11.34%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.54 earnings per share. 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 company also recently announced 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. This is a boost from S&P Global’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 26th. S&P Global’s payout ratio is presently 44.23%.

Insider Activity

In other S&P Global news, CEO Douglas L. Peterson sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 162,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $69,032,992.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

About S&P Global

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.