Washington Trust Bank Increases Position in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Washington Trust Bank raised its holdings in shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 313.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,881 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,426 shares during the period. Washington Trust Bank’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $937,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in S&P Global by 52.0% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 658,766 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $328,632,000 after purchasing an additional 225,370 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of S&P Global by 12.6% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 27,598 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $14,198,000 after buying an additional 3,093 shares in the last quarter. Eastern Bank lifted its stake in shares of S&P Global by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 50,157 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $24,980,000 after buying an additional 1,530 shares in the last quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC grew its holdings in shares of S&P Global by 19.1% during the fourth quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 37,746 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $18,799,000 after buying an additional 6,051 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new stake in shares of S&P Global during the third quarter valued at approximately $27,170,000. 87.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on SPGI. Evercore ISI increased their target price on S&P Global from $599.00 to $608.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. StockNews.com cut S&P Global from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on S&P Global from $576.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup began coverage on shares of S&P Global in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $600.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Mizuho started coverage on shares of S&P Global in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $599.00 target price for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $590.86.

S&P Global Stock Up 0.1 %

SPGI stock opened at $497.62 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $513.85 and its 200-day moving average price is $510.42. The stock has a market cap of $153.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.29, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20. S&P Global Inc. has a twelve month low of $407.69 and a twelve month high of $545.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The business services provider reported $3.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 period last year, the firm posted $3.13 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that S&P Global Inc. will post 17.11 EPS for the current year.

S&P Global Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th were given a dividend of $0.96 per share. This is a positive change from S&P Global’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 26th. This represents a $3.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.77%. S&P Global’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.09%.

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.