Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Sells 6,355 Shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. reduced its position in shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 3.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 177,289 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 6,355 shares during the quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. owned 0.06% of S&P Global worth $79,071,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of S&P Global by 15.7% during the 4th quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 1,403,726 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $618,369,000 after acquiring an additional 190,758 shares during the period. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA boosted its stake in S&P Global by 107.2% in the 2nd quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA now owns 5,725 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,798,000 after purchasing an additional 2,962 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its stake in S&P Global by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 475,930 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $209,670,000 after purchasing an additional 5,087 shares during the period. AAFMAA Wealth Management & Trust LLC bought a new position in S&P Global in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,222,000. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new position in S&P Global in the 1st quarter worth approximately $2,236,000. 87.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Douglas L. Peterson sold 7,000 shares of the firm’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 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 filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Director Robert P. Kelly sold 7,662 shares of S&P Global stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $481.28, for a total transaction of $3,687,567.36. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 15,830 shares in the company, valued at $7,618,662.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Douglas L. Peterson sold 7,000 shares of S&P Global 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $74,915,443.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 17,862 shares of company stock worth $8,645,727 over the last three months. 0.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SPGI has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on S&P Global from $535.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on S&P Global from $550.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group upped their price target on S&P Global from $505.00 to $555.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on S&P Global from $530.00 to $564.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on S&P Global from $520.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $535.25.

S&P Global Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of SPGI opened at $515.81 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $161.40 billion, a PE ratio of 57.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.17. The business has a fifty day moving average of $490.75 and a 200 day moving average of $450.52. S&P Global Inc. has a 52-week low of $340.49 and a 52-week high of $521.50. 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 (NYSE:SPGI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The business services provider reported $4.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.67 by $0.37. The company had revenue of $3.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.42 billion. S&P Global had a return on equity of 13.03% and a net margin of 25.03%. S&P Global’s revenue was up 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.12 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that S&P Global Inc. will post 14.58 EPS for the current year.

S&P Global Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 27th were given a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 27th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.71%. S&P Global’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.