Public Sector Pension Investment Board Acquires 1,900 Shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Key Points

• The Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its stake in S&P Global Inc. by 2.3%, owning 84,250 shares valued at approximately $42.8 million as of the latest disclosure.
• Brokerages, including UBS Group and Morgan Stanley, have raised their price targets for S&P Global, with an average price target now around $611.69 and numerous analysts rating it as a "buy".
• S&P Global recently reported earnings of $4.43 per share for the last quarter, exceeding expectations and showing a revenue increase of 5.8% year-over-year.

Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its stake in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI - Free Report) by 2.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 84,250 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,900 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board's holdings in S&P Global were worth $42,807,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of SPGI. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted 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 buying an additional 108,729 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in S&P Global by 19.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,276,043 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $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 boosted its stake in S&P Global by 13.2% in 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 valued at $1,529,653,000 after buying an additional 357,790 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in S&P Global by 3.7% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,762,187 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,403,468,000 after buying an additional 97,324 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in S&P Global by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 2,184,312 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,087,853,000 after buying an additional 224,294 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.17% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on SPGI. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on S&P Global from $629.00 to $603.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. 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. Argus raised S&P Global to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. UBS Group lifted their price target 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. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on S&P Global from $610.00 to $620.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given 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 a consensus target price of $611.69.

S&P Global Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of SPGI traded up $3.47 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $562.53. 1,047,388 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,197,488. S&P Global Inc. has a 52 week low of $427.14 and a 52 week high of $566.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $171.74 billion, a PE ratio of 43.27, a PEG ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.19. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $528.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $512.02.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $4.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.18 by $0.25. S&P Global had a return on equity of 15.11% and a net margin of 27.30%. The company had revenue of $3.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.65 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $4.04 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, 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 announced 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. This represents a $3.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 26th. S&P Global's payout ratio is presently 29.54%.

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.