Wells Fargo & Company Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) Stock

Key Points

• Wells Fargo & Company has raised its price target for S&P Global stock from $632.00 to $660.00, indicating a potential upside of 21.85% from its current price.
• Multiple analysts rate S&P Global with a consensus of 13 buy ratings, 2 hold ratings, and 1 strong buy, with an average price target of $609.31.
• S&P Global has demonstrated strong earnings results, reporting $4.43 EPS for the last quarter, exceeding expectations and showing a year-over-year revenue growth of 5.8%.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI - Get Free Report) had its target price lifted by equities researchers at Wells Fargo & Company from $632.00 to $660.00 in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an "overweight" rating on the business services provider's stock. Wells Fargo & Company's target price would suggest a potential upside of 21.85% from the company's current price.

SPGI has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Barclays increased their price target on S&P Global from $610.00 to $620.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Bank of America started coverage on S&P Global in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $600.00 price target on the stock. 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. Argus upgraded S&P Global to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price objective on S&P Global from $567.00 to $592.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Two 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's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, S&P Global currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $609.31.

S&P Global Stock Performance

NYSE:SPGI traded down $9.44 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $541.67. 429,073 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,283,195. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $166.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.19. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $519.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $508.64. S&P Global has a 52 week low of $427.14 and a 52 week high of $558.86.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $4.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.18 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $3.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.65 billion. S&P Global had a return on equity of 14.68% and a net margin of 27.27%. S&P Global's revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $4.04 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that S&P Global will post 17.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at S&P Global

In other news, EVP Sally Moore sold 500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The stock was 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 directly owned 5,131 shares in the company, valued at $2,619,016.33. This trade represents a 8.88% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of S&P Global

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of S&P Global by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,779,003 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $15,130,711,000 after buying an additional 108,729 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in S&P Global by 19.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,276,043 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,631,568,000 after buying an additional 525,347 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its holdings in S&P Global by 3.7% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 3,186,250 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,618,934,000 after buying an additional 114,843 shares during the last quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in S&P Global by 70,734.1% during the second quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,168,411 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,670,671,000 after buying an additional 3,163,938 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in S&P Global by 13.2% during the 4th 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 last quarter. 87.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

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