Raymond James Financial Inc. Invests $527.21 Million in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 1,058,583 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $527,207,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned approximately 0.34% of S&P Global as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Promus Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of S&P Global during the 4th quarter worth $203,000. Vision Financial Markets LLC acquired a new position in S&P Global in the 4th quarter worth about $78,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. increased its holdings in S&P Global by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 30,353 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $15,117,000 after purchasing an additional 388 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System increased its holdings in S&P Global by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 92,752 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $46,193,000 after purchasing an additional 972 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sound Financial Strategies Group LLC increased its holdings in S&P Global by 12.5% in the 4th quarter. Sound Financial Strategies Group LLC now owns 1,808 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $900,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SPGI has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on S&P Global from $617.00 to $633.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on S&P Global from $590.00 to $580.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Evercore ISI upped their target price on S&P Global from $599.00 to $608.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. StockNews.com cut S&P Global from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on S&P Global from $595.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $590.23.

S&P Global Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of S&P Global stock opened at $523.27 on Thursday. S&P Global Inc. has a one year low of $407.69 and a one year high of $545.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $514.96 and its 200 day moving average is $511.46. The firm has a market cap of $161.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.37, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The business services provider reported $3.77 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.41 by $0.36. S&P Global had a return on equity of 14.33% and a net margin of 27.12%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.13 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that S&P Global Inc. will post 17.11 EPS for the current year.

S&P Global Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th will be issued a $0.96 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 26th. This represents a $3.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.73%. This is a positive change from S&P Global’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. S&P Global’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.09%.

S&P Global Company Profile

S&P Global, Inc engages in the provision of transparent and independent ratings, benchmarks, analytics, and data to the capital and commodity markets worldwide. It operates through the following segments: Market Intelligence, Ratings, Commodity Insights, Mobility, Indices, and Engineering Solutions.