Litman Gregory Wealth Management LLC Boosts Holdings in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Litman Gregory Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI - Free Report) by 26.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,947 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 2,737 shares during the quarter. Litman Gregory Wealth Management LLC's holdings in S&P Global were worth $6,578,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of SPGI. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of S&P Global in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of S&P Global in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of S&P Global in the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. Alpine Bank Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of S&P Global in the 1st quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of S&P Global by 131.0% in the 4th quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 67 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.17% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SPGI has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $627.00 to $632.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $587.00 to $595.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $618.00 to $565.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Argus raised shares of S&P Global to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $575.00 to $620.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $596.79.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Sally Moore sold 500 shares of S&P Global stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $510.43, for a total value 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

S&P Global Price Performance

NYSE SPGI traded up $1.05 on Thursday, reaching $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 12 month low of $427.14 and a 12 month high of $545.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $516.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $505.93. The stock has a market cap of $161.14 billion, a PE 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The business services provider reported $4.37 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.72 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $4.01 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict 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. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 26th will be paid a $0.96 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 26th. This represents a $3.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.73%. S&P Global's payout ratio is 30.16%.

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.