Berkeley Inc Invests $4.52 Million in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Berkeley Inc bought a new stake in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 8,896 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $4,520,000. S&P Global accounts for about 2.1% of Berkeley Inc's portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest holding.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of S&P Global by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,589,982 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $3,273,264,000 after buying an additional 116,208 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in S&P Global during the 4th quarter valued at $1,725,084,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in S&P Global by 19.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,276,043 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,631,568,000 after acquiring an additional 525,347 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of S&P Global by 13.2% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,071,407 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,529,653,000 after purchasing an additional 357,790 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of S&P Global by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 2,184,312 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,087,853,000 after purchasing an additional 224,294 shares in the last quarter. 87.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 transaction of $255,215.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 5,131 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,619,016.33. The trade was a 8.88% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

S&P Global Stock Down 0.5%

NYSE SPGI traded down $2.78 on Friday, reaching $527.05. The stock had a trading volume of 816,683 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,228,601. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $515.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $505.48. S&P Global Inc. has a 1 year low of $427.14 and a 1 year high of $545.39. The company has a market capitalization of $161.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 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 (NYSE:SPGI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The business services provider reported $4.37 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $3.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.72 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $4.01 EPS. S&P Global's quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast 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. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 26th will be paid a $0.96 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 26th. This represents a $3.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.73%. S&P Global's payout ratio is presently 30.16%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on SPGI shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $587.00 to $595.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of S&P Global from $627.00 to $632.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. Argus upgraded shares of S&P Global to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on S&P Global from $629.00 to $603.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on S&P Global in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $600.00 target price for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $596.79.

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.