ERn Financial LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

ERn Financial LLC cut its stake in shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 27.8% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,720 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 661 shares during the quarter. ERn Financial LLC’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $732,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SPGI. Private Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new position in S&P Global in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of S&P Global in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of S&P Global during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group raised its holdings in S&P Global by 64.1% during 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, Fortis Group Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in S&P Global in the third quarter valued at about $33,000. 87.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

S&P Global Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SPGI traded up $0.55 on Thursday, hitting $448.91. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,051,173 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,280,358. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $430.07 and a 200-day moving average of $431.44. The company has a market capitalization of $140.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 1.15. S&P Global Inc. has a 12-month low of $340.49 and a 12-month high of $461.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.92.

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

S&P Global Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 27th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 27th. S&P Global’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.81%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of S&P Global in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Barclays raised their target price on S&P Global from $500.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of S&P Global from $480.00 to $482.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective 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. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of S&P Global from $442.00 to $446.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $467.89.

S&P Global Company Profile

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.