Savant Capital LLC Acquires 865 Shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Savant Capital LLC raised its holdings in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 19.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 5,406 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 865 shares during the quarter. Savant Capital LLC’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $2,692,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of S&P Global in the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. First Personal Financial Services bought a new position in S&P Global in the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in S&P Global in the third quarter worth about $31,000. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. raised its holdings in S&P Global by 77.1% during the 3rd quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 62 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dunhill Financial LLC lifted its position in S&P Global by 94.4% during the 3rd quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 70 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on SPGI. Citigroup began coverage on shares of S&P Global in a research note on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $600.00 price objective on the stock. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on S&P Global from $536.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on S&P Global from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on S&P Global from $590.00 to $580.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com raised S&P Global from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $586.85.

S&P Global Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SPGI opened at $530.93 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $164.75 billion, a PE ratio of 46.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.20. S&P Global Inc. has a 52 week low of $407.69 and a 52 week high of $542.00. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $506.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $506.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 0.94.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last released its earnings results 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 net margin of 25.80% and a return on equity of 13.72%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.13 earnings per share. Analysts predict that S&P Global Inc. will post 15.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

S&P Global Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th will be given a dividend of $0.96 per share. This represents a $3.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 26th. This is an increase from S&P Global’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. S&P Global’s payout ratio is 32.13%.

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.