Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc Grows Stake in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc grew its stake in shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI - Free Report) by 1.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 49,031 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 780 shares during the quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc's holdings in S&P Global were worth $24,908,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of S&P Global in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in S&P Global in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of S&P Global during the first quarter worth about $28,000. Alpine Bank Wealth Management bought a new position in S&P Global during the 1st quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. lifted its holdings in S&P Global by 131.0% in 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 and hedge funds.

S&P Global Price Performance

NYSE:SPGI traded up $4.06 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $529.70. The stock had a trading volume of 576,525 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,230,396. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.90. S&P Global Inc. has a one year low of $427.14 and a one year high of $545.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $162.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $510.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $503.90.

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 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 the consensus estimate of $3.72 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $4.01 earnings per share. S&P Global's quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that S&P Global Inc. will post 17.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

S&P Global Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 26th will be given a $0.96 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 26th. This represents a $3.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.72%. S&P Global's payout ratio is 30.16%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on SPGI shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on S&P Global from $627.00 to $632.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday. Mizuho assumed coverage on S&P Global in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $599.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of S&P Global from $555.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Oppenheimer lifted 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. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of S&P Global to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. 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 currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $593.93.

Insider Activity

In other S&P Global news, EVP Sally Moore sold 500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $510.43, for a total transaction of $255,215.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 5,131 shares in the company, valued at $2,619,016.33. This represents a 8.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

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.