Ritholtz Wealth Management Purchases 213 Shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Ritholtz Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 3.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 5,970 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 213 shares during the quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $2,630,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in S&P Global during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,112,935,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its stake in S&P Global by 11,089.7% in the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,230,227 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $914,794,000 after buying an additional 2,210,296 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in shares of S&P Global by 49.9% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,318,418 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,446,412,000 after buying an additional 1,437,116 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of S&P Global by 39.5% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,727,874 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,529,100,000 after buying an additional 1,056,097 shares during the period. Finally, Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of S&P Global by 113,163.2% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,005,777 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $336,875,000 after acquiring an additional 1,004,889 shares in the last quarter. 87.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of S&P Global in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $422.00 to $452.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $446.25.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Douglas L. Peterson sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $424.74, for a total value of $2,548,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 162,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $69,032,992.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

S&P Global Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of SPGI traded up $2.10 on Thursday, reaching $424.91. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,881,566 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,347,971. S&P Global Inc. has a twelve month low of $329.46 and a twelve month high of $461.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $136.08 billion, a PE ratio of 51.77, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $433.47 and a 200-day moving average of $410.64.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The business services provider reported $3.13 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by ($0.02). S&P Global had a net margin of 21.02% and a return on equity of 11.34%. The company had revenue of $3.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.13 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.54 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that S&P Global Inc. will post 14 EPS for the current year.

S&P Global Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 27th were given a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 26th. This is a positive change from S&P Global’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. S&P Global’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.23%.

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, and S&P Dow Jones Indices segments.