S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) Price Target Lowered to $442.00 at Stifel Nicolaus

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) had its target price reduced by Stifel Nicolaus from $460.00 to $442.00 in a research note released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the business services provider’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on SPGI. 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 research report on Tuesday, January 9th. Oppenheimer reissued an outperform rating and issued a $480.00 price objective on shares of S&P Global in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on S&P Global from $480.00 to $483.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Erste Group Bank reissued a hold rating on shares of S&P Global in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on S&P Global from $500.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, S&P Global currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $462.00.

S&P Global Stock Performance

Shares of SPGI stock opened at $413.37 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company has a market cap of $132.39 billion, a PE ratio of 50.23, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.15. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $425.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $415.25. S&P Global has a 52 week low of $338.92 and a 52 week high of $461.16.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The business services provider reported $3.13 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $3.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.13 billion. S&P Global had a return on equity of 11.34% and a net margin of 21.02%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.54 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that S&P Global will post 14.08 EPS for the current year.

S&P Global Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 27th were paid a $0.91 dividend. This is an increase from S&P Global’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 26th. S&P Global’s payout ratio is presently 44.23%.

Insider Transactions at S&P Global

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

Institutional Trading of S&P Global

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of SPGI. Private Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of S&P Global in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in S&P Global in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in S&P Global during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group grew its stake in shares of S&P Global by 64.1% in the fourth quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 64 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of S&P Global during the third quarter valued at $25,000. 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.