Lake Street Advisors Group LLC Acquires 30 Shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Lake Street Advisors Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,003 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $2,492,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in S&P Global by 52.0% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 658,766 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $328,632,000 after acquiring an additional 225,370 shares in the last quarter. GDS Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of S&P Global by 7.0% in 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. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of S&P Global by 12.6% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 27,598 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $14,198,000 after purchasing an additional 3,093 shares in the last quarter. Eastern Bank lifted its holdings in shares of S&P Global by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 50,157 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $24,980,000 after purchasing an additional 1,530 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new position in shares of S&P Global during the third quarter valued at approximately $27,170,000. 87.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on SPGI shares. Citigroup began coverage on S&P Global in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $600.00 price target for the company. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of S&P Global from $576.00 to $590.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. 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 report on Wednesday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $595.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of S&P Global from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, S&P Global presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $590.23.

S&P Global Price Performance

S&P Global stock opened at $533.80 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $511.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $510.09. S&P Global Inc. has a 12 month low of $407.69 and a 12 month high of $545.39. The company has a market cap of $164.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.22, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The business services provider reported $3.77 earnings per share (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 period last year, the firm earned $3.13 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that S&P Global Inc. will post 17.11 EPS for the current year.

S&P Global Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th will be given 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.