King Luther Capital Management Corp Purchases 42,812 Shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Key Points

• King Luther Capital Management Corp increased its position in S&P Global Inc. by 41.8% during the first quarter, acquiring an additional 42,812 shares.
• Analysts have generally favored S&P Global, with thirteen buy ratings and a consensus price target of $611.69 following recent upgrades from firms like JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley.
• S&P Global reported $4.43 EPS for the latest quarter, exceeding expectations, and announced a dividend of $0.96 per share to be paid in September.

King Luther Capital Management Corp grew its position in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI - Free Report) by 41.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 145,264 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 42,812 shares during the period. King Luther Capital Management Corp's holdings in S&P Global were worth $73,809,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Stegent Equity Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of S&P Global by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. Stegent Equity Advisors Inc. now owns 659 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $335,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Foster Dykema Cabot & Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of S&P Global by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Foster Dykema Cabot & Partners LLC now owns 2,859 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,453,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC raised its position in shares of S&P Global by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 762 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $387,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Hemington Wealth Management raised its position in shares of S&P Global by 8.0% in the 1st quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 284 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $144,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Planning Group LLC raised its position in shares of S&P Global by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Retirement Planning Group LLC now owns 5,762 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $2,870,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. 87.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $575.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $595.00 to $615.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Argus raised shares of S&P Global to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of 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. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $567.00 to $592.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $611.69.

S&P Global Stock Performance

SPGI opened at $556.99 on Friday. S&P Global Inc. has a 12-month low of $427.14 and a 12-month high of $566.42. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $170.05 billion, a PE ratio of 42.85, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.19. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $525.43 and a two-hundred day moving average of $511.06.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $4.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.18 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.65 billion. S&P Global had a net margin of 27.30% and a return on equity of 15.11%. The business's revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $4.04 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that S&P Global Inc. will post 17.11 EPS for the current year.

S&P Global Dividend Announcement

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 0.7%. S&P Global's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.54%.

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.

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