Longbow Finance SA Purchases 494 Shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Longbow Finance SA grew its position in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 5.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,426 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 494 shares during the period. Longbow Finance SA’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $5,192,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Swedbank AB boosted its stake in S&P Global by 11.8% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 871,588 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $450,280,000 after purchasing an additional 92,115 shares in the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC boosted its stake in S&P Global by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 911 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $471,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its stake in S&P Global by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 8,429 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,354,000 after purchasing an additional 579 shares in the last quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors boosted its stake in S&P Global by 21.2% in the 3rd quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 2,095 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,082,000 after purchasing an additional 367 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Trust Walden Corp boosted its stake in S&P Global by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 3,589 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,854,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. 87.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of S&P Global from $595.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of S&P Global in a research note on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $600.00 target price for the company. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of S&P Global from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of S&P Global from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Oppenheimer reduced their price target on shares of S&P Global from $590.00 to $580.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $590.23.

S&P Global Price Performance

NYSE:SPGI opened at $533.17 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The firm has a market cap of $164.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $510.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $509.77. S&P Global Inc. has a 1-year low of $407.69 and a 1-year high of $545.39.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The business services provider reported $3.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.41 by $0.36. S&P Global had a net margin of 27.12% and a return on equity of 14.33%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.13 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that S&P Global Inc. will post 17.11 EPS for the current year.

S&P Global Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 26th will be paid a $0.96 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 26th. This represents a $3.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.72%. This is a boost from S&P Global’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. S&P Global’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.09%.

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.