Stanley Laman Group Ltd. Boosts Holdings in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Stanley Laman Group Ltd. grew its position in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI - Free Report) by 185.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,632 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 1,061 shares during the quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd.'s holdings in S&P Global were worth $829,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in SPGI. Norges Bank acquired a new position in S&P Global during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,725,084,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in S&P Global by 60,982.3% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,139,101 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,086,877,000 after purchasing an additional 2,135,599 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in S&P Global during the 4th quarter worth approximately $527,207,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its position in S&P Global by 71,024.1% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 619,491 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $308,525,000 after purchasing an additional 618,620 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in S&P Global by 19.1% during 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. 87.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on SPGI shares. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $616.00 to $589.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of S&P Global from $607.00 to $627.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of S&P Global from $555.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of S&P Global from $629.00 to $603.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Argus raised shares of S&P Global to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $592.71.

S&P Global Stock Down 1.0%

SPGI traded down $4.84 during trading on Friday, hitting $501.03. 1,343,042 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,225,432. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The business's 50 day moving average is $497.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $503.96. S&P Global Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $427.14 and a fifty-two week high of $545.39. The stock has a market cap of $153.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.57, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The business services provider reported $4.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.23 by $0.14. S&P Global had a net margin of 27.12% and a return on equity of 14.33%. The firm had revenue of $3.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.72 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $4.01 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that S&P Global Inc. will post 17.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

S&P Global Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 28th were issued a $0.96 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 28th. This represents a $3.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.77%. S&P Global's dividend payout ratio is currently 30.16%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Sally Moore sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were 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 now owns 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.