Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Acquires 1,648 Shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 5.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 30,732 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,648 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $13,538,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Insider Activity at S&P Global

In other S&P Global news, CEO Douglas L. Peterson sold 6,000 shares of S&P Global stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $424.74, for a total transaction of $2,548,440.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 162,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $69,032,992.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on SPGI. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $480.00 target price on shares of S&P Global in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Barclays upped their price objective on S&P Global from $500.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of S&P Global in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on S&P Global from $480.00 to $483.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Raymond James increased their price objective on S&P Global from $422.00 to $452.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, S&P Global has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $464.22.

S&P Global Stock Performance

Shares of SPGI stock opened at $413.47 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $132.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.07, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.15. S&P Global Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $338.92 and a fifty-two week high of $461.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.84. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $425.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $415.27.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The business services provider reported $3.13 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $3.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.13 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.54 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that S&P Global Inc. will post 14.03 earnings per share for the current year.

S&P Global Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 27th were paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. This is a positive change from S&P Global’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 26th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.88%. S&P Global’s payout ratio is presently 44.23%.

S&P Global 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.