Natural Investments LLC Invests $419,000 in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Natural Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 842 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $419,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in SPGI. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in S&P Global in the 4th quarter worth approximately $527,207,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in S&P Global by 71,024.1% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 619,491 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $308,525,000 after buying an additional 618,620 shares during the period. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new stake in S&P Global during the 3rd quarter worth $224,976,000. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of S&P Global by 6.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,965,369 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,081,830,000 after buying an additional 369,598 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new stake in shares of S&P Global during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $144,091,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

S&P Global Stock Performance

NYSE:SPGI opened at $480.51 on Wednesday. S&P Global Inc. has a 1 year low of $407.69 and a 1 year high of $545.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $147.90 billion, a PE ratio of 38.91, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $514.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $511.46.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The business services provider reported $3.77 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business posted $3.13 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that S&P Global Inc. will post 17.11 EPS for the current year.

S&P Global Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th will be paid a $0.96 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 26th. This represents a $3.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.80%. This is a positive change from S&P Global’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. S&P Global’s payout ratio is currently 31.09%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on SPGI. Citigroup began coverage on S&P Global in a report on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $600.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on S&P Global from $617.00 to $633.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $576.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com lowered shares of S&P Global from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their target price 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. Three equities 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.com, S&P Global currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $590.23.

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.