Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT Raises Position in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT raised its stake in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 9.5% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 83,794 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 7,270 shares during the quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $37,372,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of S&P Global in the first quarter valued at approximately $351,774,000. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $2,423,762,000 after acquiring an additional 616,732 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of S&P Global by 352.2% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 463,383 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $206,669,000 after acquiring an additional 360,909 shares in the last quarter. Third Point LLC bought a new position in shares of S&P Global in the first quarter valued at approximately $142,526,000. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its holdings in shares of S&P Global by 348.2% in the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 336,640 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $148,284,000 after acquiring an additional 261,526 shares in the last quarter. 87.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on SPGI shares. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on S&P Global from $532.00 to $537.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on S&P Global from $550.00 to $565.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group increased their price objective on S&P Global from $505.00 to $555.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Barclays increased their price objective on S&P Global from $550.00 to $610.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on S&P Global from $535.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, S&P Global has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $548.18.

S&P Global Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SPGI opened at $522.41 on Wednesday. S&P Global Inc. has a twelve month low of $340.49 and a twelve month high of $528.02. The firm has a market cap of $163.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.57, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a 50 day moving average of $496.16 and a 200 day moving average of $453.28. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The business services provider reported $4.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.67 by $0.37. S&P Global had a net margin of 25.03% and a return on equity of 13.03%. The company had revenue of $3.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.42 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.12 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that S&P Global Inc. will post 14.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

S&P Global Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th were given a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 27th. S&P Global’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.81%.

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 that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were 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 owns 15,830 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,618,662.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, EVP Steven J. Kemps sold 2,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.55, for a total transaction of $1,327,185.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 1,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $715,205.25. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert P. Kelly sold 7,662 shares of the business’s 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 directly owns 15,830 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,618,662.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 17,862 shares of company stock valued at $8,645,727. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

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.