Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Acquires 7,248 Shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Key Points

• Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in S&P Global Inc. by 7.3%, acquiring an additional 7,248 shares during the 1st quarter, bringing its total ownership to 106,322 shares, worth approximately $53.9 million.
• S&P Global reported a net margin of 27.30% and a year-over-year revenue increase of 5.8%, with quarterly earnings of $4.43 per share, exceeding expectations by $0.25.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.96 per share, with a payout ratio of 29.54%, to be paid on September 10th.

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI - Free Report) by 7.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 106,322 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 7,248 shares during the quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd.'s holdings in S&P Global were worth $53,912,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in S&P Global by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,779,003 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $15,130,711,000 after purchasing an additional 108,729 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 525,347 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 357,790 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in S&P Global by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,762,187 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,403,468,000 after purchasing an additional 97,324 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in S&P Global by 11.4% in the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 2,184,312 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,087,853,000 after purchasing an additional 224,294 shares in the last quarter. 87.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on SPGI shares. 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. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on S&P Global from $595.00 to $615.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted 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. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on S&P Global from $616.00 to $589.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Argus raised 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, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, S&P Global currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $611.69.

S&P Global Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of NYSE SPGI traded up $3.47 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $562.53. 1,047,388 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,197,488. The stock has a market capitalization of $171.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The company's 50 day moving average price is $528.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $512.02. S&P Global Inc. has a 12 month low of $427.14 and a 12 month high of $566.56.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $4.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.18 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.65 billion. S&P Global had a return on equity of 15.11% and a net margin of 27.30%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $4.04 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 26th will be given a $0.96 dividend. This represents a $3.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 26th. S&P Global's dividend payout ratio is 29.54%.

S&P Global 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.