Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Acquires 1,015 Shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Key Points

• Empirical Wealth Management increased its stake in S&P Global by 31% during the first quarter, owning 4,285 shares valued at approximately $2.18 million.
• Multiple institutional investors, including Brighton Jones LLC and Huntington National Bank, have also recently increased their positions in S&P Global, with institutional ownership now at 87.17% of the company's stock.
• S&P Global reported $4.43 earnings per share for the last quarter, exceeding estimates and reflecting a 5.8% increase in revenue compared to the prior year.

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management boosted its position in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI - Free Report) by 31.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,285 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 1,015 shares during the quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management's holdings in S&P Global were worth $2,177,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of SPGI. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of S&P Global by 60,982.3% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,139,101 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,086,877,000 after purchasing an additional 2,135,599 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of S&P Global by 19.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,276,043 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,631,568,000 after purchasing an additional 525,347 shares in the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in shares of S&P Global in the fourth quarter worth $238,503,000. BlueSpruce Investments LP bought a new position in shares of S&P Global in the fourth quarter worth $178,858,000. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings 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 during the period. 87.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

S&P Global Stock Performance

NYSE SPGI traded up $11.79 on Monday, hitting $557.45. 447,133 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,287,982. The company has a market capitalization of $170.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The business's 50 day moving average price is $520.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $509.18. S&P Global Inc. has a 52-week low of $427.14 and a 52-week high of $558.86.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.65 billion. S&P Global had a return on equity of 15.11% and a net margin of 27.30%. S&P Global's quarterly revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $4.04 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that S&P Global Inc. will post 17.11 earnings per share for the current year.

S&P Global Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 26th will be issued 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 yield of 0.7%. S&P Global's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.54%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SPGI has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their target price on S&P Global from $575.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on S&P Global from $632.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on S&P Global from $575.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on S&P Global from $595.00 to $615.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on S&P Global from $604.00 to $621.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $611.69.

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.