S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) Shares Gap Up on Better-Than-Expected Earnings

S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) shares gapped up prior to trading on Thursday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $413.28, but opened at $428.04. S&P Global shares last traded at $410.22, with a volume of 550,398 shares trading hands.

The business services provider reported $4.01 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.68 by $0.33. S&P Global had a net margin of 22.01% and a return on equity of 12.20%. The company had revenue of $3.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.39 billion.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on SPGI. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of S&P Global in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $442.00 to $446.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $480.00 to $482.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of S&P Global in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of S&P Global from $480.00 to $483.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $462.60.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other S&P Global news, CEO Douglas L. Peterson sold 6,000 shares of S&P Global stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $424.74, for a total transaction of $2,548,440.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 162,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $69,032,992.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of S&P Global by 18.5% in the third quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,409 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $515,000 after buying an additional 220 shares during the period. Arkadios Wealth Advisors increased its stake in shares of S&P Global by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 1,523 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $671,000 after buying an additional 87 shares during the period. Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning purchased a new position in shares of S&P Global in the fourth quarter worth $1,644,000. Aspiriant LLC purchased a new position in shares of S&P Global in the fourth quarter worth $398,000. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP increased its position in S&P Global by 12.1% during the 3rd quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 186,231 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $68,051,000 after purchasing an additional 20,153 shares during the period. 87.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

S&P Global Trading Up 0.1 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.92. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $423.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is $417.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $133.14 billion, a PE ratio of 46.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.15.

About S&P Global

S&P Global Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides credit ratings, benchmarks, analytics, and workflow solutions in the global capital, commodity, and automotive markets. It operates through S&P Global Market Intelligence, S&P Global Ratings, S&P Global Commodity Insights, S&P Global Mobility, S&P Dow Jones Indices, and S&P Global Engineering Solutions segments.