D.B. Root & Company LLC Increases Stake in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

D.B. Root & Company LLC lifted its stake in shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 40.9% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 933 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 271 shares during the period. D.B. Root & Company LLC’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $397,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Private Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of S&P Global in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC purchased a new position in S&P Global in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in S&P Global during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group lifted its position in shares of S&P Global by 64.1% during the 4th quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 64 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fortis Group Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of S&P Global in the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. 87.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

S&P Global Price Performance

S&P Global stock opened at $446.00 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $431.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $431.72. S&P Global Inc. has a 12 month low of $340.49 and a 12 month high of $461.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $139.55 billion, a PE ratio of 50.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.16.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The business services provider reported $4.01 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.68 by $0.33. S&P Global had a net margin of 22.01% and a return on equity of 12.20%. The company had revenue of $3.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.39 billion. Equities analysts predict that S&P Global Inc. will post 14.1 earnings per share for the current year.

S&P Global Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 27th will be given a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 27th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.82%. S&P Global’s payout ratio is currently 40.81%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on SPGI. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of S&P Global from $480.00 to $482.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on S&P Global from $480.00 to $483.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 1st. Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of S&P Global in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on S&P Global from $442.00 to $446.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of S&P Global in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $467.89.

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