Claro Advisors LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Claro Advisors LLC reduced its stake in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,121 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 39 shares during the quarter. Claro Advisors LLC’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $946,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Private Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of S&P Global in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of S&P Global in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of S&P Global in the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. First Pacific Financial boosted its stake in shares of S&P Global by 49.0% in the second quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 73 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Frazier Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of S&P Global in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. 87.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

S&P Global Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:SPGI opened at $513.24 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $160.64 billion, a PE ratio of 57.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The business has a 50-day moving average of $480.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $445.80. S&P Global Inc. has a 12 month low of $340.49 and a 12 month high of $514.00.

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

S&P Global Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 27th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.71%. S&P Global’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.81%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on SPGI shares. UBS Group lifted their price target on S&P Global from $505.00 to $555.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company raised S&P Global to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on S&P Global from $550.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on S&P Global from $500.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 5th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on S&P Global from $535.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $530.75.

S&P Global 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.