Verus Capital Partners LLC Buys Shares of 427 S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Verus Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 427 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $221,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Platform Technology Partners lifted its holdings in S&P Global by 0.8% in the third quarter. Platform Technology Partners now owns 3,448 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,781,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its holdings in S&P Global by 0.7% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 727,551 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $375,867,000 after purchasing an additional 5,285 shares during the period. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in S&P Global by 66.9% in the third quarter. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC now owns 8,959 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,629,000 after purchasing an additional 3,592 shares during the period. Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new stake in S&P Global in the third quarter worth about $3,056,000. Finally, FDx Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of S&P Global by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. FDx Advisors Inc. now owns 888 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $459,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. 87.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

S&P Global Price Performance

S&P Global stock opened at $510.29 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $158.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.35, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.18. S&P Global Inc. has a 1 year low of $398.73 and a 1 year high of $533.29. The business has a 50-day moving average of $510.80 and a 200-day moving average of $477.67. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The business services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.64 by $0.25. S&P Global had a return on equity of 13.72% and a net margin of 25.80%. The business had revenue of $3.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.43 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.21 EPS. S&P Global’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that S&P Global Inc. will post 15.25 EPS for the current year.

S&P Global Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 26th. S&P Global’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.13%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on SPGI. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of S&P Global from $564.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of S&P Global from $589.00 to $564.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $500.00 to $552.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Raymond James downgraded shares of S&P Global from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of S&P Global from $540.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, S&P Global currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $571.31.

S&P Global Company Profile

S&P Global Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides credit ratings, benchmarks, analytics, and workflow solutions in the global capital, commodity, and automotive markets. It operates through S&P Global Market Intelligence, S&P Global Ratings, S&P Global Commodity Insights, S&P Global Mobility, S&P Dow Jones Indices, and S&P Global Engineering Solutions segments.