Bank of Montreal Can Sells 193,736 Shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Bank of Montreal Can decreased its stake in shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 18.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 838,368 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 193,736 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can owned 0.27% of S&P Global worth $376,511,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SPGI. Pineridge Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of S&P Global during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Sachetta LLC increased its holdings in shares of S&P Global by 103.4% in the second quarter. Sachetta LLC now owns 59 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC bought a new position in S&P Global in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. First Pacific Financial lifted its holdings in S&P Global by 49.0% during the 2nd quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 73 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new position in S&P Global in the 2nd quarter valued at $36,000. Institutional investors own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on SPGI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on S&P Global from $550.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group boosted their price objective on S&P Global from $505.00 to $555.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Raymond James lowered shares of S&P Global from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of S&P Global from $486.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $532.00 to $537.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $548.18.

Insider Buying and Selling at S&P Global

In other news, EVP Steven J. Kemps sold 2,700 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.55, for a total transaction of $1,327,185.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 1,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $715,205.25. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Edouard Tavernier sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.55, for a total transaction of $245,775.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,217 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,496,816.35. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Steven J. Kemps sold 2,700 shares of S&P Global stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.55, for a total transaction of $1,327,185.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 1,455 shares in the company, valued at $715,205.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 17,862 shares of company stock valued at $8,645,727. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

S&P Global Price Performance

Shares of SPGI stock opened at $523.67 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. S&P Global Inc. has a 12-month low of $340.49 and a 12-month high of $528.02. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $499.16 and a 200-day moving average of $455.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $163.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.17.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The business services provider reported $4.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.67 by $0.37. The firm had revenue of $3.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.42 billion. S&P Global had a return on equity of 13.03% and a net margin of 25.03%. The company’s revenue was up 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.12 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that S&P Global Inc. will post 14.58 earnings per share for the current year.

S&P Global Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th were issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 27th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.70%. S&P Global’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 40.81%.

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.