FourThought Financial LLC Sells 279 Shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

FourThought Financial LLC trimmed its stake in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI – Get Rating) by 35.5% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 507 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 279 shares during the quarter. FourThought Financial LLC’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $155,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dark Forest Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of S&P Global in the second quarter worth $29,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of S&P Global in the third quarter worth $29,000. Rain Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of S&P Global by 38.2% in the second quarter. Rain Capital Management LLC now owns 94 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. New Millennium Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of S&P Global in the second quarter worth $32,000. Finally, MV Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of S&P Global by 40.6% in the third quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 135 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. 87.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other S&P Global news, CEO Douglas L. Peterson sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $360.52, for a total value of $2,703,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 160,816 shares in the company, valued at $57,977,384.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Douglas L. Peterson sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $360.52, for a total value of $2,703,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 160,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $57,977,384.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Sally Moore sold 3,499 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $367.30, for a total transaction of $1,285,182.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 4,957 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,820,706.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 11,749 shares of company stock worth $4,266,185 over the last three months. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on SPGI. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $434.00 price target on shares of S&P Global in a research note on Monday, March 6th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on S&P Global from $388.00 to $403.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 6th. Credit Suisse Group lifted their price objective on S&P Global from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 10th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on S&P Global from $398.00 to $402.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 10th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on S&P Global from $393.00 to $401.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $393.56.

S&P Global Stock Performance

SPGI opened at $334.49 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $107.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.86, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.12. S&P Global Inc. has a 1-year low of $279.32 and a 1-year high of $423.55. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $356.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $341.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.94.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 9th. The business services provider reported $2.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.47 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $2.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.88 billion. S&P Global had a net margin of 29.05% and a return on equity of 9.84%. The company’s revenue was up 40.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.15 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that S&P Global Inc. will post 12.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

S&P Global Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 24th were given a $0.90 dividend. This is a positive change from S&P Global’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.08%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 23rd. S&P Global’s dividend payout ratio is presently 34.29%.

About S&P Global

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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. The Market Intelligence segment provides multi-asset-class data and analytics integrated with purpose-built workflow solutions.