Marathon Asset Management Ltd Trims Stock Holdings in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Marathon Asset Management Ltd lessened its stake in shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI - Free Report) by 18.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 57,796 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 13,285 shares during the period. Marathon Asset Management Ltd's holdings in S&P Global were worth $29,367,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of S&P Global by 1.8% in 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 purchasing an additional 116,208 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in S&P Global in the 4th quarter worth $1,725,084,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in S&P Global by 19.1% in 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 buying an additional 525,347 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in S&P Global by 13.2% in the 4th 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 buying an additional 357,790 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised its holdings in S&P Global by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 2,345,377 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,162,979,000 after acquiring an additional 145,434 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.17% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on S&P Global from $607.00 to $627.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target 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. Argus raised shares of S&P Global to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $555.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of S&P Global from $616.00 to $589.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $592.71.

Insider Transactions at S&P Global

In other news, EVP Sally Moore sold 500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $510.43, for a total value of $255,215.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 5,131 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,619,016.33. This trade represents a 8.88% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

S&P Global Price Performance

SPGI stock traded up $3.21 during trading on Friday, hitting $518.23. 2,251,581 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,237,935. S&P Global Inc. has a 52 week low of $427.14 and a 52 week high of $545.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $158.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 1.20. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $506.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $503.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.90.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The business services provider reported $4.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.23 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $3.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.72 billion. S&P Global had a net margin of 27.27% and a return on equity of 14.68%. The business's revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $4.01 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that S&P Global Inc. will post 17.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

S&P Global Announces Dividend

The business 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 $0.96 dividend. This represents a $3.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 26th. S&P Global's payout ratio is 30.16%.

S&P Global Company 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.