Washington Trust Bank Has $212,000 Stake in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Washington Trust Bank lowered its position in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 8.3% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 476 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 43 shares during the period. Washington Trust Bank’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $212,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of S&P Global in the fourth quarter worth $1,652,862,000. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of S&P Global in the first quarter valued at about $351,774,000. Capital International Investors increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 616,732 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of S&P Global by 352.2% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 463,383 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $206,669,000 after purchasing an additional 360,909 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Third Point LLC bought a new stake in S&P Global during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $142,526,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other S&P Global news, insider Edouard Tavernier sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.55, for a total value of $245,775.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 13,217 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,496,816.35. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, Director Robert P. Kelly sold 7,662 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $481.28, for a total value of $3,687,567.36. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 15,830 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,618,662.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Edouard Tavernier sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $491.55, for a total value of $245,775.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,217 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,496,816.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 17,862 shares of company stock valued at $8,645,727 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays boosted their price target on S&P Global from $520.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on S&P Global from $535.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of S&P Global to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $505.00 to $555.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their target price on S&P Global from $486.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, S&P Global has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $530.75.

S&P Global Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE:SPGI traded up $5.01 on Friday, hitting $513.06. 1,245,368 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,237,968. The stock has a market capitalization of $160.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.03. S&P Global Inc. has a 52 week low of $340.49 and a 52 week high of $514.00. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $478.61 and its 200 day moving average price is $444.88.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The business services provider reported $4.04 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $3.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.12 earnings per share. S&P Global’s revenue was up 14.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that S&P Global Inc. will post 14.58 earnings per share for the current year.

S&P Global Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th will be given a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 27th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.71%. S&P Global’s dividend payout ratio is currently 40.81%.

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.