Varenne Capital Partners Purchases Shares of 14,196 S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Key Points

• Varenne Capital Partners acquired a new stake in S&P Global Inc., purchasing 14,196 shares valued at approximately $7.21 million, making it the firm's 12th largest position.
• Analysts from several firms, including Morgan Stanley and Barclays, have raised their price targets for S&P Global shares, with a consensus target price of $611.69 and an average rating of "Moderate Buy."
• S&P Global reported better-than-expected earnings, with an EPS of $4.43 exceeding estimates, and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.96 per share, reflecting a 0.7% yield.

Varenne Capital Partners purchased a new stake in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 14,196 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $7,213,000. S&P Global comprises about 2.6% of Varenne Capital Partners' investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of S&P Global during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Costello Asset Management INC purchased a new position in shares of S&P Global during the first quarter worth approximately $26,000. Cheviot Value Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of S&P Global during the first quarter worth approximately $26,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of S&P Global during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Finally, Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of S&P Global during the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. 87.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on SPGI shares. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of S&P Global from $595.00 to $615.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $610.00 to $620.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $575.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $567.00 to $592.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $629.00 to $603.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $611.69.

S&P Global Price Performance

S&P Global stock opened at $562.53 on Thursday. S&P Global Inc. has a one year low of $427.14 and a one year 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 business has a fifty day moving average of $528.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $512.02. The company has a market cap of $171.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.19.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $4.43 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 quarter last year, the company earned $4.04 earnings per share. S&P Global's quarterly revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that S&P Global Inc. will post 17.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

S&P Global Announces Dividend

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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 26th. This represents a $3.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. S&P Global's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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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