Westfield Capital Management Co. LP Increases Stock Position in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Key Points

• Westfield Capital Management Co. LP increased its stake in S&P Global Inc. by 0.6%, owning 151,399 shares valued at $76.93 million after purchasing an additional 925 shares.
• Several analysts raised their price targets for S&P Global, with BMO Capital Markets increasing its target from $604 to $621, while JPMorgan Chase's target rose from $575 to $625, indicating strong bullish sentiment.
• S&P Global announced a quarterly dividend of $0.96 per share, translating to an annualized dividend of $3.84 and a yield of 0.7%.

Westfield Capital Management Co. LP raised its stake in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI - Free Report) by 0.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 151,399 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 925 shares during the quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP's holdings in S&P Global were worth $76,926,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC purchased a new position in S&P Global during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Cheviot Value Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of S&P Global in the 1st quarter worth $26,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of S&P Global during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of S&P Global in the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in S&P Global by 103.3% during the first quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 61 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.17% of the company's stock.

S&P Global Stock Performance

NYSE:SPGI traded up $0.01 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $563.03. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,462,586 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,103,098. S&P Global Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $427.14 and a fifty-two week high of $566.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The firm has a market cap of $171.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.31, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.19. The firm's 50 day moving average is $521.70 and its 200-day moving average is $509.60.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $4.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.18 by $0.25. S&P Global had a net margin of 27.30% and a return on equity of 15.11%. The business had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.65 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $4.04 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities 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 business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 26th will be issued a $0.96 dividend. This represents a $3.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 26th. S&P Global's payout ratio is 29.54%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on SPGI shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased 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. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on S&P Global from $604.00 to $621.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday. Oppenheimer increased their target price on S&P Global from $567.00 to $592.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Argus upgraded shares of S&P Global to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $629.00 to $603.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $611.69.

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.