951 Shares in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) Acquired by Levin Capital Strategies L.P.

Levin Capital Strategies L.P. bought a new position in shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 951 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $474,000.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in SPGI. Swedbank AB boosted its position in S&P Global by 11.8% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 871,588 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $450,280,000 after buying an additional 92,115 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Group LLC boosted its position in S&P Global by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 911 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $471,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the period. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. boosted its position in S&P Global by 7.9% during the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 2,517 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,300,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR boosted its position in S&P Global by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 10,403 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,374,000 after buying an additional 409 shares during the period. Finally, Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV boosted its position in S&P Global by 4,600.0% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 141 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $73,000 after buying an additional 138 shares during the period. 87.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SPGI has been the topic of several recent research reports. Oppenheimer cut their target price on shares of S&P Global from $590.00 to $580.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of S&P Global from $599.00 to $608.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of S&P Global from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of S&P Global from $617.00 to $633.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of S&P Global from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, S&P Global has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $590.23.

S&P Global Stock Up 1.7 %

S&P Global stock opened at $534.09 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. S&P Global Inc. has a 12-month low of $407.69 and a 12-month high of $545.39. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $513.75 and its 200 day moving average is $510.82. The company has a market capitalization of $164.39 billion, a PE ratio of 43.25, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The business services provider reported $3.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.41 by $0.36. S&P Global had a net margin of 27.12% and a return on equity of 14.33%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.13 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that S&P Global Inc. will post 17.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

S&P Global Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.96 per share. This represents a $3.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 26th. This is a positive change from S&P Global’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. S&P Global’s payout ratio is 31.09%.

S&P Global 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.