S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eleven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $462.60.

A number of equities analysts have commented on SPGI shares. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of S&P Global from $422.00 to $452.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. Erste Group Bank reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of S&P Global in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on S&P Global from $442.00 to $446.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on S&P Global from $480.00 to $483.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on S&P Global from $500.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd.

S&P Global Stock Performance

SPGI stock opened at $425.18 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $133.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.67, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $422.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $418.75. S&P Global has a 1-year low of $340.49 and a 1-year high of $461.16.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The business services provider reported $4.01 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.68 by $0.33. The business had revenue of $3.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.39 billion. S&P Global had a net margin of 22.01% and a return on equity of 12.20%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that S&P Global will post 14.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

S&P Global Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 29th will be paid a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 28th. S&P Global’s dividend payout ratio is currently 40.81%.

Insider Activity at S&P Global

In other S&P Global news, CEO Douglas L. Peterson sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $424.74, for a total value of $2,548,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 162,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $69,032,992.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On S&P Global

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Private Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of S&P Global during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC purchased a new position in S&P Global during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of S&P Global during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group raised its stake in shares of S&P Global by 64.1% in the 4th quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 64 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, Fortis Group Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of S&P Global in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

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.