S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $590.86.

SPGI has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $599.00 to $608.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of S&P Global from $617.00 to $633.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. UBS Group lifted their target price on S&P Global from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on shares of S&P Global from $590.00 to $580.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded S&P Global from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Howard Capital Management Group LLC raised its holdings in S&P Global by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 911 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $471,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of S&P Global by 53.8% during the third quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,536 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,784,000 after acquiring an additional 1,936 shares during the last quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of S&P Global by 11.7% during the third quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 591 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $305,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. Penserra Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in S&P Global by 114.0% during the 3rd quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 3,240 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,672,000 after purchasing an additional 1,726 shares during the period. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of S&P Global by 471.1% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 217 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $112,000 after buying an additional 179 shares during the last quarter. 87.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

S&P Global Stock Performance

NYSE SPGI opened at $504.00 on Tuesday. S&P Global has a 12-month low of $407.69 and a 12-month high of $545.39. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $514.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $510.31. The company has a market capitalization of $155.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The business services provider reported $3.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.41 by $0.36. S&P Global had a return on equity of 14.33% and a net margin of 27.12%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.13 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that S&P Global will post 17.11 earnings per share for the current year.

S&P Global Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th were paid a $0.96 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 26th. This is a boost from S&P Global’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $3.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. S&P Global’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.09%.

S&P Global Company Profile

S&P Global, Inc engages in the provision of transparent and independent ratings, benchmarks, analytics, and data to the capital and commodity markets worldwide. It operates through the following segments: Market Intelligence, Ratings, Commodity Insights, Mobility, Indices, and Engineering Solutions.