BMO Capital Markets Issues Positive Forecast for S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) Stock Price

Key Points

• BMO Capital Markets raised its target price for S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) from $604.00 to $621.00, indicating a potential upside of 14.14% from the stock's previous close.
• The stock has received a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from analysts, with a total of thirteen "buy" ratings and just one "strong buy" rating.
• S&P Global reported a quarterly earnings per share of $4.43, surpassing estimates by $0.25, and achieved revenue growth of 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI - Get Free Report) had its target price raised by BMO Capital Markets from $604.00 to $621.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an "outperform" rating on the business services provider's stock. BMO Capital Markets' target price suggests a potential upside of 14.14% from the stock's previous close.

SPGI has been the topic of several other research reports. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of S&P Global from $629.00 to $603.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of S&P Global from $610.00 to $620.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of S&P Global from $595.00 to $615.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of S&P Global from $616.00 to $589.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of S&P Global from $575.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $611.69.

S&P Global Trading Down 1.3%

SPGI stock traded down $7.03 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $544.07. The stock had a trading volume of 910,241 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,286,860. The firm has a market cap of $166.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. S&P Global has a 1-year low of $427.14 and a 1-year high of $558.86. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $519.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $508.64.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $4.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.18 by $0.25. S&P Global had a net margin of 27.27% and a return on equity of 14.68%. The firm had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.65 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $4.04 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that S&P Global will post 17.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other S&P Global news, EVP Sally Moore sold 500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $510.43, for a total value of $255,215.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 5,131 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,619,016.33. The trade was a 8.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On S&P Global

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Graham Capital Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of S&P Global during the fourth quarter valued at about $14,040,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in S&P Global by 20.2% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,210 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $2,139,000 after buying an additional 708 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in S&P Global by 1.4% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 86,794 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $44,102,000 after buying an additional 1,166 shares in the last quarter. Alaethes Wealth LLC bought a new position in S&P Global in the fourth quarter worth about $2,029,000. Finally, Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in S&P Global by 5.2% in the first quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 10,850 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $5,513,000 after buying an additional 536 shares in the last quarter. 87.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.

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