QRG Capital Management Inc. Increases Position in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 18.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 18,377 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,875 shares during the quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $8,095,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SPGI. Qsemble Capital Management LP lifted its stake in S&P Global by 372.9% during the 4th quarter. Qsemble Capital Management LP now owns 8,985 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,958,000 after acquiring an additional 7,085 shares in the last quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in S&P Global by 22.3% in the 4th quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 203 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $89,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the period. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of S&P Global by 21.1% during the fourth quarter. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 1,470 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $648,000 after acquiring an additional 256 shares during the period. AGF Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in S&P Global by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 41,427 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $18,249,000 after purchasing an additional 543 shares during the period. Finally, Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its position in S&P Global by 58.4% in the 4th quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 3,343 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,473,000 after purchasing an additional 1,233 shares in the last quarter. 87.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at S&P Global

In other news, CEO Douglas L. Peterson sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $424.74, for a total value of $2,548,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 162,530 shares in the company, valued at approximately $69,032,992.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

S&P Global Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of SPGI traded down $0.72 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $431.57. 859,036 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,469,869. The business has a fifty day moving average of $422.62 and a 200-day moving average of $421.67. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $135.04 billion, a PE ratio of 48.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.14. S&P Global Inc. has a 1-year low of $340.49 and a 1-year high of $461.16.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The business services provider reported $4.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.68 by $0.33. S&P Global had a return on equity of 12.20% and a net margin of 22.01%. The company had revenue of $3.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.39 billion. Analysts expect that S&P Global Inc. will post 14.1 EPS for the current year.

S&P Global Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 29th will be paid a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 28th. S&P Global’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.81%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on SPGI. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of S&P Global from $480.00 to $483.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 1st. Oppenheimer increased their price target on S&P Global from $480.00 to $482.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of S&P Global from $442.00 to $446.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of S&P Global in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of S&P Global in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $467.89.

S&P Global Company 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.