S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and twelve have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $573.23.

SPGI has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on S&P Global from $600.00 to $585.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of S&P Global from $540.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of S&P Global from $550.00 to $610.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. UBS Group upped their price objective on S&P Global from $605.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on S&P Global from $536.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On S&P Global

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC increased its stake in S&P Global by 13.9% during the 3rd quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 359,572 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $185,762,000 after buying an additional 43,864 shares during the period. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas acquired a new stake in shares of S&P Global during the third quarter valued at about $27,170,000. American Trust increased its position in shares of S&P Global by 76.2% during the third quarter. American Trust now owns 2,518 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,301,000 after acquiring an additional 1,089 shares during the last quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of S&P Global by 0.8% in the third quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 27,741 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $14,332,000 after acquiring an additional 229 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC boosted its holdings in S&P Global by 78.7% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 30,022 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $15,510,000 after purchasing an additional 13,226 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

S&P Global Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE:SPGI opened at $505.75 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company has a market capitalization of $156.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.19. S&P Global has a 52-week low of $407.69 and a 52-week high of $533.29. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $509.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $490.76.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The business services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.64 by $0.25. S&P Global had a net margin of 25.80% and a return on equity of 13.72%. The business had revenue of $3.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.43 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.21 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that S&P Global will post 15.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

S&P Global Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th were paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 26th. S&P Global’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.13%.

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.