National Bank of Canada FI Lowers Stock Holdings in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

National Bank of Canada FI lessened its stake in shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 5.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 206,017 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 11,502 shares during the quarter. National Bank of Canada FI’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $102,603,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of SPGI. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in S&P Global by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,868,375 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,581,580,000 after buying an additional 292,436 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of S&P Global by 1.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,473,774 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,332,016,000 after acquiring an additional 113,146 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in S&P Global during the fourth quarter worth about $1,725,084,000. Amundi lifted its position in S&P Global by 6.6% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 2,345,377 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,162,979,000 after purchasing an additional 145,434 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in S&P Global by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,999,467 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $995,795,000 after purchasing an additional 62,770 shares in the last quarter. 87.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on S&P Global from $595.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of S&P Global in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $599.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of S&P Global from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $599.00 to $608.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, 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. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $590.86.

S&P Global Stock Performance

NYSE SPGI opened at $510.66 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. S&P Global Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $407.69 and a fifty-two week high of $545.39. The business has a fifty day moving average of $515.35 and a 200-day moving average of $509.96. The stock has a market cap of $160.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The business services provider reported $3.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 period in the prior year, the business posted $3.13 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that S&P Global Inc. will post 17.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

S&P Global Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th were paid a $0.96 dividend. This is a boost from S&P Global’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $3.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 26th. S&P Global’s payout ratio is presently 31.09%.

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.