Stephens Investment Management Group LLC Lowers Holdings in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Stephens Investment Management Group LLC reduced its stake in shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 7.1% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 482 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 37 shares during the period. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $249,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of SPGI. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of S&P Global in the first quarter worth about $351,774,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of S&P Global by 174,815.4% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 467,024 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $241,274,000 after acquiring an additional 466,757 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of S&P Global by 352.2% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 463,383 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $206,669,000 after acquiring an additional 360,909 shares in the last quarter. Third Point LLC bought a new position in shares of S&P Global during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $142,526,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of S&P Global by 13.5% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,516,811 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,115,697,000 after purchasing an additional 298,645 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

S&P Global Trading Up 0.6 %

SPGI stock opened at $483.31 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $149.97 billion, a PE ratio of 42.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 1.03. S&P Global Inc. has a 12 month low of $365.00 and a 12 month high of $533.29. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $512.45 and its 200 day moving average is $472.74.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The business services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.64 by $0.25. S&P Global had a return on equity of 13.72% and a net margin of 25.80%. The firm had revenue of $3.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.43 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.21 earnings per share. S&P Global’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that S&P Global Inc. will post 15.16 EPS for the current year.

S&P Global Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 26th. S&P Global’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.13%.

Insider Activity

In other S&P Global news, Director Robert P. Kelly sold 7,662 shares of the company’s 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 owns 15,830 shares in the company, valued at $7,618,662.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on SPGI. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of S&P Global from $575.00 to $620.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of S&P Global from $540.00 to $590.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. UBS Group boosted their price objective on S&P Global from $605.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Barclays raised their price objective on S&P Global from $550.00 to $610.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Raymond James cut S&P Global from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $571.31.

S&P Global 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.