S&P Global Inc. $SPGI Shares Sold by Korea Investment CORP

Key Points

• Korea Investment CORP has reduced its stake in S&P Global Inc. by 3.0%, selling 6,359 shares and holding 206,825 shares valued at approximately $105.1 million.
• Several hedge funds, including Vanguard and UBS, have increased their positions in S&P Global, with 87.17% of the stock now owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
• S&P Global reported $4.43 earnings per share for the last quarter, exceeding expectations, alongside a recently announced quarterly dividend of $0.96 per share.

Korea Investment CORP trimmed its holdings in shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI - Free Report) by 3.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 206,825 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 6,359 shares during the period. Korea Investment CORP owned about 0.07% of S&P Global worth $105,088,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of S&P Global by 0.4% during the first 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 boosted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 525,347 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 357,790 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 97,324 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 224,294 shares during the period. 87.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of S&P Global from $629.00 to $603.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of S&P Global from $575.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of S&P Global from $567.00 to $592.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of S&P Global from $595.00 to $615.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of S&P Global from $632.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, S&P Global presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $611.69.

S&P Global Trading Down 1.4%

SPGI opened at $556.11 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $169.78 billion, a PE ratio of 42.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.19. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $529.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $512.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. S&P Global Inc. has a 12-month low of $427.14 and a 12-month high of $579.05.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $4.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.18 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.65 billion. S&P Global had a net margin of 27.30% and a return on equity of 15.11%. The firm's revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $4.04 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that S&P Global Inc. will post 17.11 EPS 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 dividend of $0.96 per share. This represents a $3.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend 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 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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