S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) Shares Bought by Meridian Wealth Partners LLC

Meridian Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,835 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the quarter. Meridian Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $819,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its position in shares of S&P Global by 15.7% during the 4th quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 1,403,726 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $618,369,000 after purchasing an additional 190,758 shares during the period. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA grew its holdings in shares of S&P Global by 107.2% in the 2nd quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA now owns 5,725 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,798,000 after acquiring an additional 2,962 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of S&P Global by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 475,930 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $209,670,000 after acquiring an additional 5,087 shares during the last quarter. AAFMAA Wealth Management & Trust LLC acquired a new position in shares of S&P Global in the 1st quarter worth $1,222,000. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new position in shares of S&P Global in the 1st quarter worth $2,236,000. 87.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on SPGI shares. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on S&P Global from $486.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group lifted their target price on S&P Global from $505.00 to $555.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Bank of America lifted their target price on S&P Global from $530.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on S&P Global from $530.00 to $564.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded S&P Global to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, S&P Global currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $548.18.

Insider Activity at S&P Global

In related news, CEO Douglas L. Peterson sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $483.60, for a total value of $3,385,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 154,912 shares in the company, valued at $74,915,443.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other S&P Global news, Director Robert P. Kelly sold 7,662 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $481.28, for a total transaction of $3,687,567.36. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,830 shares in the company, valued at $7,618,662.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Douglas L. Peterson sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $483.60, for a total value of $3,385,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 154,912 shares in the company, valued at $74,915,443.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 17,862 shares of company stock valued at $8,645,727. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

S&P Global Price Performance

SPGI opened at $522.41 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $496.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $453.28. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. S&P Global Inc. has a 1 year low of $340.49 and a 1 year high of $528.02. The stock has a market cap of $163.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.57, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.17.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The business services provider reported $4.04 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.67 by $0.37. S&P Global had a return on equity of 13.03% and a net margin of 25.03%. The firm had revenue of $3.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.12 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that S&P Global Inc. will post 14.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

S&P Global Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 27th were given a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 27th. S&P Global’s payout ratio is presently 40.81%.

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.