Allstate Corp Invests $4.72 Million in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Allstate Corp acquired a new stake in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 9,483 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,723,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SPGI. Headinvest LLC lifted its stake in S&P Global by 2.0% in the third quarter. Headinvest LLC now owns 997 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $515,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. EWA LLC increased its position in shares of S&P Global by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. EWA LLC now owns 498 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $254,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC raised its holdings in shares of S&P Global by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 1,544 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $788,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its position in shares of S&P Global by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,034 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $515,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Personal CFO Solutions LLC lifted its position in shares of S&P Global by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 674 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $336,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SPGI has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on S&P Global from $576.00 to $590.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup assumed coverage on S&P Global in a research note on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $600.00 target price for the company. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on shares of S&P Global from $590.00 to $580.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of S&P Global from $595.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, S&P Global presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $590.86.

S&P Global Price Performance

Shares of SPGI opened at $502.33 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85. S&P Global Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $407.69 and a fifty-two week high of $545.39. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $515.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $510.21. The company has a market capitalization of $157.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The business services provider reported $3.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 in the previous year, the business posted $3.13 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that S&P Global Inc. will post 17.11 earnings per share for the current year.

S&P Global Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 26th were given a $0.96 dividend. This represents a $3.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.76%. This is a positive change from S&P Global’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 26th. S&P Global’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.09%.

About S&P Global

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.