Stegent Equity Advisors Inc. Buys 82 Shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Stegent Equity Advisors Inc. increased its stake in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 14.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 639 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the quarter. Stegent Equity Advisors Inc.’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $318,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Headinvest LLC increased its position in shares of S&P Global by 2.0% in the third quarter. Headinvest LLC now owns 997 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $515,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. EWA LLC grew its position in S&P Global by 4.2% during the third quarter. EWA LLC now owns 498 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $254,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC grew its position in S&P Global by 1.3% during the third quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 1,544 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $788,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Fullcircle Wealth LLC grew its position in S&P Global by 1.2% during the third quarter. Fullcircle Wealth LLC now owns 1,789 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $872,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Archer Investment Corp grew its position in S&P Global by 21.0% during the third quarter. Archer Investment Corp now owns 127 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $66,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. 87.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

S&P Global Stock Performance

Shares of SPGI stock opened at $528.65 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $512.12 and a 200 day moving average of $510.22. S&P Global Inc. has a 52 week low of $407.69 and a 52 week high of $545.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $162.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.81, a PEG 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 results on Tuesday, February 11th. The business services provider reported $3.77 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 last year, the business earned $3.13 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that S&P Global Inc. will post 17.11 earnings per share for the current year.

S&P Global Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 26th will be paid a $0.96 dividend. This is a positive change from S&P Global’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 26th. This represents a $3.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.73%. S&P Global’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.09%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on SPGI. Citigroup began coverage on shares of S&P Global in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $600.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on S&P Global from $595.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. StockNews.com lowered S&P Global from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on S&P Global from $576.00 to $590.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on S&P Global from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, S&P Global currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $590.23.

About S&P Global

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.