Bank of Montreal Can Acquires 47,076 Shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Bank of Montreal Can increased its stake in shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 5.6% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 885,444 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 47,076 shares during the quarter. Bank of Montreal Can’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $453,985,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA raised its holdings in shares of S&P Global by 107.2% during the second quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA now owns 5,725 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,798,000 after acquiring an additional 2,962 shares during the period. GDS Wealth Management boosted its holdings in S&P Global by 7.0% during the third quarter. GDS Wealth Management now owns 27,358 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $14,134,000 after purchasing an additional 1,801 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its position in S&P Global by 4.9% in the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 30,014 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $13,386,000 after purchasing an additional 1,405 shares in the last quarter. BDF Gestion bought a new stake in S&P Global during the 2nd quarter worth about $4,419,000. Finally, SVB Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of S&P Global by 47.4% during the 1st quarter. SVB Wealth LLC now owns 5,159 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,195,000 after buying an additional 1,659 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

S&P Global Price Performance

SPGI stock traded up $2.72 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $517.18. 127,646 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,206,400. S&P Global Inc. has a 52-week low of $407.69 and a 52-week high of $533.29. The company has a market capitalization of $160.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $509.35 and a 200-day moving average price of $482.51.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The business services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.64 by $0.25. S&P Global had a net margin of 25.80% and a return on equity of 13.72%. The firm had revenue of $3.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.43 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.21 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that S&P Global Inc. will post 15.24 earnings per share for the current year.

S&P Global Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 26th. S&P Global’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.13%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on SPGI. Raymond James downgraded shares of S&P Global from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on S&P Global from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of S&P Global in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $599.00 price target on the stock. Barclays upped their price objective on S&P Global from $550.00 to $610.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on S&P Global from $500.00 to $552.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $571.31.

About S&P Global

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.