City Holding Co. Grows Stock Position in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

City Holding Co. lifted its position in shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 3.9% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 2,647 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 100 shares during the quarter. City Holding Co.’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $1,181,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SPGI. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of S&P Global in the fourth quarter worth $1,652,862,000. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of S&P Global in the first quarter worth $351,774,000. Capital International Investors raised its position in shares of S&P Global by 12.6% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 5,502,039 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,423,762,000 after buying an additional 616,732 shares in the last quarter. Third Point LLC purchased a new stake in shares of S&P Global in the first quarter worth $142,526,000. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its position in shares of S&P Global by 24.4% in the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,502,798 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $662,013,000 after buying an additional 294,896 shares in the last quarter. 87.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

S&P Global Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of SPGI stock traded up $1.32 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $488.51. 611,235 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,258,101. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $460.85 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $440.22. S&P Global Inc. has a 12-month low of $340.49 and a 12-month high of $502.95. The stock has a market cap of $152.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.77, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The business services provider reported $4.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.67 by $0.37. S&P Global had a net margin of 25.03% and a return on equity of 13.03%. The firm had revenue of $3.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.42 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.12 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that S&P Global Inc. will post 14.58 EPS for the current year.

S&P Global Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 27th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.75%. S&P Global’s payout ratio is 40.81%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Steven J. Kemps sold 2,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.55, for a total value of $1,327,185.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $715,205.25. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Douglas L. Peterson sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $483.60, for a total value of $3,385,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 154,912 shares in the company, valued at approximately $74,915,443.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Steven J. Kemps sold 2,700 shares of S&P Global stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.55, for a total transaction of $1,327,185.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $715,205.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 17,862 shares of company stock worth $8,645,727. Insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on SPGI shares. Bank of America raised their price target on S&P Global from $530.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on S&P Global from $535.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on S&P Global from $486.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group raised their price objective on S&P Global from $505.00 to $555.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on S&P Global from $550.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, S&P Global presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $526.73.

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.