Morton Community Bank Purchases 405 Shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Morton Community Bank grew its position in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 5.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 7,504 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 405 shares during the quarter. Morton Community Bank’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $3,347,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of SPGI. Private Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new position in S&P Global during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of S&P Global during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of S&P Global during the second quarter valued at about $31,000. First Pacific Financial lifted its position in shares of S&P Global by 49.0% in the second quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 73 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Frazier Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in S&P Global during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. 87.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other S&P Global news, Director Robert P. Kelly sold 7,662 shares of S&P Global stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $481.28, for a total transaction of $3,687,567.36. Following the sale, the director now owns 15,830 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,618,662.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Robert P. Kelly sold 7,662 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $481.28, for a total value of $3,687,567.36. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 15,830 shares in the company, valued at $7,618,662.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Douglas L. Peterson sold 7,000 shares of S&P Global stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was 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 approximately $74,915,443.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 17,862 shares of company stock worth $8,645,727. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on S&P Global from $486.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on S&P Global from $500.00 to $552.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Barclays increased their price target on S&P Global from $520.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $535.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $532.00 to $537.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $535.25.

S&P Global Stock Performance

SPGI stock traded down $6.36 during trading on Friday, reaching $510.64. The company had a trading volume of 1,037,683 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,232,332. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $486.64 and a 200-day simple moving average of $448.74. S&P Global Inc. has a twelve month low of $340.49 and a twelve month high of $521.50. The company has a market cap of $159.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.17.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The business services provider reported $4.04 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 during 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 company’s revenue was up 14.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that S&P Global Inc. will post 14.57 earnings per share for the current year.

S&P Global Dividend Announcement

The company 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 $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 27th. S&P Global’s payout ratio is 40.81%.

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.