Dark Forest Capital Management LP Acquires Shares of 1,197 S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Dark Forest Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 1,197 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $534,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in SPGI. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in S&P Global during the 1st quarter valued at $351,774,000. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of S&P Global by 12.6% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 5,502,039 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,423,762,000 after buying an additional 616,732 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of S&P Global by 352.2% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 463,383 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $206,669,000 after buying an additional 360,909 shares during the period. Third Point LLC acquired a new position in S&P Global in the 1st quarter valued at about $142,526,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in S&P Global by 13.5% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,516,811 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,115,697,000 after buying an additional 298,645 shares during the last quarter. 87.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

S&P Global Stock Performance

Shares of S&P Global stock opened at $512.72 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company has a market cap of $160.43 billion, a PE ratio of 57.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a 50 day moving average of $502.21 and a 200-day moving average of $458.02. S&P Global Inc. has a 1-year low of $340.49 and a 1-year high of $528.02.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The business services provider reported $4.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.67 by $0.37. S&P Global had a return on equity of 13.03% and a net margin of 25.03%. The firm had revenue of $3.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.12 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that S&P Global Inc. will post 14.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

S&P Global Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be given a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 26th. S&P Global’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.81%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Robert P. Kelly sold 7,662 shares of S&P Global stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $481.28, for a total transaction of $3,687,567.36. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 15,830 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,618,662.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Robert P. Kelly sold 7,662 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $481.28, for a total value of $3,687,567.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,830 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,618,662.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Douglas L. Peterson sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $483.60, for a total value of $3,385,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 154,912 shares in the company, valued at approximately $74,915,443.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 17,862 shares of company stock valued at $8,645,727. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on SPGI. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on S&P Global from $532.00 to $537.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Barclays upped their price objective on S&P Global from $550.00 to $610.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Wells Fargo & Company raised S&P Global to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of S&P Global from $505.00 to $555.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $530.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, S&P Global currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $548.18.

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.