Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. Makes New $225,000 Investment in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 510 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $225,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SPGI. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of S&P Global in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group raised its position in S&P Global by 64.1% during the fourth quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 64 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in S&P Global during the third quarter valued at about $25,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA raised its position in S&P Global by 200.0% during the fourth quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 75 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harbour Investments Inc. raised its position in S&P Global by 45.8% during the third quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 86 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other S&P Global news, CEO Douglas L. Peterson sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $424.74, for a total value of $2,548,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 162,530 shares in the company, valued at $69,032,992.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on SPGI. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on S&P Global from $460.00 to $442.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on S&P Global from $480.00 to $483.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $480.00 price objective on shares of S&P Global in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Raymond James raised their price objective on S&P Global from $422.00 to $452.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of S&P Global in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $462.00.

S&P Global Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE SPGI traded down $0.81 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $412.56. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,138,654 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,166,407. 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 market cap of $132.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.15. S&P Global Inc. has a 12 month low of $338.92 and a 12 month high of $461.16. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $424.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $415.57.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The business services provider reported $3.13 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.15 by ($0.02). S&P Global had a return on equity of 11.34% and a net margin of 21.02%. The company had revenue of $3.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.13 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.54 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that S&P Global Inc. will post 14.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

S&P Global Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 27th were issued a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 26th. This is a positive change from S&P Global’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.88%. S&P Global’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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, S&P Dow Jones Indices, and S&P Global Engineering Solutions segments.