Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. raised its holdings in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 16,215 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,053 shares during the quarter. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $8,377,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. HWG Holdings LP acquired a new stake in S&P Global in the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Sachetta LLC raised its position in shares of S&P Global by 103.4% during the 2nd quarter. Sachetta LLC now owns 59 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC purchased a new position in S&P Global in the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. First Pacific Financial boosted its holdings in S&P Global by 49.0% in the 2nd quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 73 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC acquired a new stake in S&P Global in the 2nd quarter worth about $36,000. 87.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

S&P Global Stock Performance

S&P Global stock opened at $524.80 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $512.21 and a 200-day simple moving average of $467.89. The stock has a market cap of $164.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. S&P Global Inc. has a 1-year low of $340.49 and a 1-year high of $533.29.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The business services provider reported $4.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.67 by $0.37. S&P Global had a return on equity of 13.03% and a net margin of 25.03%. The company had revenue of $3.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.42 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.12 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that S&P Global Inc. will post 14.61 EPS for the current year.

S&P Global Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 26th. S&P Global’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.81%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on SPGI. Bank of America raised their target price on S&P Global from $530.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of S&P Global from $575.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of S&P Global from $535.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of S&P Global from $550.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $550.00 to $610.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, S&P Global presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $565.17.

Insider Buying and Selling at S&P Global

In other news, CEO Douglas L. Peterson sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $483.60, for a total value of $3,385,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 154,912 shares in the company, valued at approximately $74,915,443.20. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 154,912 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $74,915,443.20. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert P. Kelly sold 7,662 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $481.28, for a total value of $3,687,567.36. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,830 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,618,662.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. 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. Insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

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.