Buffington Mohr McNeal Has $6.82 Million Stock Position in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Buffington Mohr McNeal decreased its stake in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 12.8% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 16,017 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,354 shares during the period. S&P Global accounts for 1.2% of Buffington Mohr McNeal’s holdings, making the stock its 28th biggest position. Buffington Mohr McNeal’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $6,815,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Private Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in S&P Global in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in S&P Global in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in S&P Global in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group lifted its stake in S&P Global by 64.1% in the 4th quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 64 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fortis Group Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in S&P Global in the 3rd quarter worth about $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SPGI has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays increased their price objective on S&P Global from $500.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of S&P Global in a research note on Friday, June 21st. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on S&P Global from $480.00 to $483.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of S&P Global in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price target on S&P Global from $482.00 to $486.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $468.33.

S&P Global Stock Performance

SPGI traded up $4.13 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $450.45. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 731,250 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,288,673. The stock has a market cap of $140.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.40, a PEG ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $432.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $431.78. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. S&P Global Inc. has a twelve month low of $340.49 and a twelve month high of $461.16.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last released 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%. Research analysts expect that S&P Global Inc. will post 14.1 earnings per share for the current year.

S&P Global Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 11th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 27th. S&P Global’s payout ratio is presently 40.81%.

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.