Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Cuts Position in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Key Points

• Maryland State Retirement & Pension System reduced its stake in S&P Global Inc. by 13.1% in Q1, owning 14,635 shares worth $7.4 million.
• S&P Global reported quarterly earnings of $4.43 EPS, exceeding expectations by $0.25, with a revenue of $3.76 billion, up 5.8% year-over-year.
• A number of analysts have raised their price targets for S&P Global, with Wells Fargo setting a new target of $660.00 and recommending an overweight rating.

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System trimmed its position in shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI - Free Report) by 13.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 14,635 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 2,213 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System's holdings in S&P Global were worth $7,436,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in S&P Global by 0.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,779,003 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $15,130,711,000 after purchasing an additional 108,729 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of S&P Global by 19.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,276,043 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,631,568,000 after acquiring an additional 525,347 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in shares of S&P Global by 13.2% during 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 acquiring an additional 357,790 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in shares of S&P Global by 3.7% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,762,187 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,403,468,000 after acquiring an additional 97,324 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of S&P Global by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 2,184,312 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,087,853,000 after acquiring an additional 224,294 shares during the last quarter. 87.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

S&P Global Trading Down 0.1%

S&P Global stock opened at $562.19 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $171.64 billion, a PE ratio of 43.25, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.19. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $523.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $510.33. S&P Global Inc. has a 52 week low of $427.14 and a 52 week high of $566.13. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI - Get Free Report) last posted 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 firm had revenue of $3.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.65 billion. S&P Global had a return on equity of 15.11% and a net margin of 27.30%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $4.04 EPS. Equities research 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 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 $0.96 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 26th. This represents a $3.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. S&P Global's payout ratio is 29.54%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on SPGI shares. Bank of America started coverage on shares of S&P Global in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They set a "buy" rating and a $600.00 target price on the stock. Oppenheimer increased their price target on S&P Global from $567.00 to $592.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. UBS Group increased their price target on S&P Global from $575.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on S&P Global from $632.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Argus raised S&P Global to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, S&P Global has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $611.69.

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.

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