Value Partners Investments Inc. Acquires New Position in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Value Partners Investments Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 7,500 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $3,815,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of S&P Global during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of S&P Global during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Noble Wealth Management PBC purchased a new stake in S&P Global during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. boosted its stake in S&P Global by 131.0% in the fourth quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 67 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alpine Bank Wealth Management purchased a new position in S&P Global in the first quarter worth $33,000. 87.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Sally Moore sold 500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $510.43, for a total value of $255,215.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 5,131 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,619,016.33. This trade represents a 8.88% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on SPGI. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on S&P Global from $616.00 to $589.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on S&P Global from $618.00 to $565.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Argus raised S&P Global to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Mizuho initiated coverage on shares of S&P Global in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $599.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $629.00 to $603.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, S&P Global has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $592.71.

S&P Global Stock Performance

Shares of S&P Global stock traded down $5.41 during trading on Thursday, hitting $515.88. 1,301,005 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,234,914. The stock has a market capitalization of $158.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.52, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.20. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $504.21 and a 200-day simple moving average of $503.51. S&P Global Inc. has a 52-week low of $427.14 and a 52-week high of $545.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.90.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The business services provider reported $4.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.23 by $0.14. S&P Global had a return on equity of 14.68% and a net margin of 27.27%. The business had revenue of $3.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.72 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.01 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that S&P Global Inc. will post 17.11 EPS for the current year.

S&P Global Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.96 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 26th. This represents a $3.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.74%. S&P Global's payout ratio is 30.16%.

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.