Kesler Norman & Wride LLC Buys 741 Shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Kesler Norman & Wride LLC boosted its holdings in shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI - Free Report) by 12.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,480 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 741 shares during the period. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC's holdings in S&P Global were worth $3,294,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SPGI. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of S&P Global in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,725,084,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings 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 during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings 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 during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in shares of S&P Global in the fourth quarter valued at about $238,503,000. Finally, BlueSpruce Investments LP acquired a new position in shares of S&P Global in the fourth quarter valued at about $178,858,000. 87.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on SPGI. UBS Group increased their price objective on S&P Global from $575.00 to $620.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on S&P Global from $587.00 to $595.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday. Argus raised 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, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on S&P Global from $618.00 to $565.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, S&P Global has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $596.79.

S&P Global Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of SPGI opened at $529.72 on Friday. 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 Inc. has a 12 month low of $427.14 and a 12 month high of $545.39. The stock's 50 day moving average is $515.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $505.32. The firm has a market cap of $162.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.61, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.19.

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 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 company had revenue of $3.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.72 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $4.01 earnings per share. S&P Global's quarterly revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that S&P Global Inc. will post 17.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

S&P Global Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 26th will be paid a $0.96 dividend. This represents a $3.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 26th. S&P Global's dividend payout ratio is presently 30.16%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Sally Moore sold 500 shares of S&P Global stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $510.43, for a total value of $255,215.00. Following 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.

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