Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Grows Position in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. increased its position in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 4.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 166,438 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,825 shares during the quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. owned about 0.05% of S&P Global worth $82,891,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of S&P Global by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,868,375 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,581,580,000 after purchasing an additional 292,436 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in S&P Global by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,473,774 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,332,016,000 after buying an additional 113,146 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in S&P Global by 6.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,965,369 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,081,830,000 after acquiring an additional 369,598 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in shares of S&P Global by 1.1% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,713,617 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,401,909,000 after acquiring an additional 28,458 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi boosted its stake in shares of S&P Global by 6.6% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 2,345,377 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,162,979,000 after acquiring an additional 145,434 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

S&P Global Stock Performance

S&P Global stock opened at $495.40 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85. The company has a market capitalization of $152.48 billion, a PE ratio of 40.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $513.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $510.62. S&P Global Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $407.69 and a fifty-two week high of $545.39.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The business services provider reported $3.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.41 by $0.36. S&P Global had a return on equity of 14.33% and a net margin of 27.12%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.13 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that S&P Global Inc. will post 17.11 earnings per share for the current year.

S&P Global Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th were issued a dividend of $0.96 per share. This represents a $3.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.78%. This is a boost from S&P Global’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 26th. S&P Global’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.09%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on SPGI shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on S&P Global from $617.00 to $633.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on S&P Global from $576.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on S&P Global from $595.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on S&P Global from $599.00 to $608.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Oppenheimer reduced their target price on shares of S&P Global from $590.00 to $580.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $590.86.

S&P Global Profile

S&P Global, Inc engages in the provision of transparent and independent ratings, benchmarks, analytics, and data to the capital and commodity markets worldwide. It operates through the following segments: Market Intelligence, Ratings, Commodity Insights, Mobility, Indices, and Engineering Solutions.