M&G Plc Purchases Shares of 48,764 S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

M&G Plc acquired a new stake in shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 48,764 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $20,725,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of S&P Global in the 4th quarter worth $1,652,862,000. Capital International Investors grew its position in S&P Global by 12.6% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 5,502,039 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,423,762,000 after acquiring an additional 616,732 shares in the last quarter. Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt increased its stake in S&P Global by 109.1% during the fourth quarter. Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt now owns 575,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $253,339,000 after acquiring an additional 300,000 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its stake in S&P Global by 24.4% during the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,502,798 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $662,013,000 after acquiring an additional 294,896 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its position in S&P Global by 11.9% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 2,624,308 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,156,060,000 after purchasing an additional 279,633 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

S&P Global Trading Down 1.0 %

SPGI traded down $4.85 during trading on Friday, hitting $479.84. 1,094,592 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,139,295. S&P Global Inc. has a 1 year low of $340.49 and a 1 year high of $491.48. The firm has a market cap of $150.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 1.16. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $445.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $434.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.92.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The business services provider reported $4.01 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.68 by $0.33. S&P Global had a return on equity of 12.20% and a net margin of 22.01%. The firm had revenue of $3.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.39 billion. As a group, equities analysts expect that S&P Global Inc. will post 14.25 EPS for the current year.

S&P Global Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 27th. S&P Global’s payout ratio is 40.81%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on SPGI shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on S&P Global from $500.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 5th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of S&P Global from $530.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of S&P Global from $482.00 to $486.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 1st. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $500.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted 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. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned 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 price target of $490.55.

S&P Global 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.