Ownership Capital B.V. Decreases Stock Position in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Ownership Capital B.V. reduced its position in shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI - Free Report) by 15.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 116,845 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 21,763 shares during the quarter. S&P Global comprises approximately 2.7% of Ownership Capital B.V.'s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Ownership Capital B.V.'s holdings in S&P Global were worth $59,369,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of S&P Global during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of S&P Global during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of S&P Global during the first quarter valued at $28,000. Alpine Bank Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of S&P Global during the first quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. increased its stake in shares of S&P Global by 131.0% during the fourth quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 67 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. 87.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SPGI has been the topic of several research reports. Oppenheimer raised their price target on S&P Global from $567.00 to $592.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. UBS Group lifted their target price on S&P Global from $575.00 to $620.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on S&P Global from $587.00 to $595.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on S&P Global from $627.00 to $632.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. Finally, Argus upgraded S&P Global to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Two equities research 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.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $596.79.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Sally Moore sold 500 shares of S&P Global stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

S&P Global Stock Performance

S&P Global stock traded up $3.23 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $530.30. 685,802 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,226,430. S&P Global Inc. has a twelve month low of $427.14 and a twelve month high of $545.39. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $515.64 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $505.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.90. The firm has a market cap of $162.64 billion, a PE ratio of 41.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.19.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $3.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.72 billion. S&P Global had a return on equity of 14.68% and a net margin of 27.27%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.01 EPS. Equities analysts predict that S&P Global Inc. will post 17.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

S&P Global Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 26th will be given a dividend of $0.96 per share. This represents a $3.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 26th. 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.