Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC Acquires New Position in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 3,266 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,659,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in S&P Global by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,176 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,582,000 after buying an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG increased its holdings in S&P Global by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 74,479 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $37,093,000 after buying an additional 2,413 shares during the last quarter. GHE LLC increased its holdings in S&P Global by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. GHE LLC now owns 13,504 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $6,725,000 after buying an additional 274 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of S&P Global by 42.8% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,244 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $619,000 after purchasing an additional 373 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in shares of S&P Global by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. now owns 7,039 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $3,506,000 after purchasing an additional 360 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.17% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $567.00 to $592.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $575.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $587.00 to $595.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of 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. Finally, Argus raised shares of S&P Global to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, S&P Global presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $596.79.

S&P Global Price Performance

SPGI stock traded up $1.05 during trading on Thursday, hitting $525.41. 866,993 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,221,527. 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. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $516.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $505.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $161.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 1.19.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The business services provider reported $4.37 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.23 by $0.14. S&P Global had a net margin of 27.27% and a return on equity of 14.68%. The business had revenue of $3.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.72 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $4.01 earnings per share. S&P Global's quarterly revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that S&P Global Inc. will post 17.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

S&P Global Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 26th will be issued a $0.96 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 26th. This represents a $3.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.73%. S&P Global's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.16%.

Insider Activity

In other 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 5,131 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,619,016.33. This trade represents a 8.88% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

S&P Global Profile

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.