Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Increases Stock Position in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. boosted its position in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI - Free Report) by 199.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,737 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 2,488 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc.'s holdings in S&P Global were worth $1,861,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SPGI. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its position in S&P Global by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 532 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $265,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the period. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in S&P Global by 96.6% in the fourth quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 1,056 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $526,000 after purchasing an additional 519 shares during the period. City Holding Co. lifted its position in S&P Global by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. City Holding Co. now owns 2,375 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,183,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in shares of S&P Global by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 7,834 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $3,902,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares during the period. Finally, Harbor Investment Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of S&P Global by 71.3% during the 4th quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 2,062 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,027,000 after acquiring an additional 858 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.17% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of S&P Global from $595.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Argus upgraded shares of S&P Global to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of S&P Global from $618.00 to $565.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of S&P Global from $599.00 to $608.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of S&P Global from $576.00 to $590.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, S&P Global presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $592.71.

S&P Global Price Performance

Shares of SPGI traded down $0.95 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $510.37. 1,293,925 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,221,132. 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 company has a 50-day simple moving average of $490.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $503.48. S&P Global Inc. has a 52-week low of $419.49 and a 52-week high of $545.39. The company has a market cap of $156.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.33, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The business services provider reported $4.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $3.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.72 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $4.01 EPS. The company's revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that S&P Global Inc. will post 17.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

S&P Global Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 28th will be paid a $0.96 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 28th. This represents a $3.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. S&P Global's payout ratio is currently 30.16%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other S&P Global news, EVP Sally Moore sold 500 shares of S&P Global stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 5,131 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,619,016.33. The trade was a 8.88% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.10% of the stock is 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.