Principal Financial Group Inc. Increases Stake in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 365,737 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 15,456 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $188,948,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of SPGI. GDS Wealth Management raised its stake in S&P Global by 7.0% during the third quarter. GDS Wealth Management now owns 27,358 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $14,134,000 after purchasing an additional 1,801 shares in the last quarter. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new stake in shares of S&P Global during the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,170,000. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc lifted its holdings in shares of S&P Global by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc now owns 47,705 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $24,645,000 after acquiring an additional 1,806 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. grew its position in S&P Global by 53.8% in the third quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,536 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,784,000 after acquiring an additional 1,936 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its position in 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 acquiring an additional 3,093 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

S&P Global Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:SPGI opened at $486.56 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $507.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $492.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 0.94. S&P Global Inc. has a one year low of $407.69 and a one year high of $533.29. The firm has a market cap of $150.98 billion, a PE ratio of 42.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.19.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The business services provider reported $3.89 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.64 by $0.25. S&P Global had a return on equity of 13.72% and a net margin of 25.80%. The company had revenue of $3.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.43 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.21 EPS. S&P Global’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that S&P Global Inc. will post 15.24 EPS for the current year.

S&P Global Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 26th were issued a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.75%. S&P Global’s payout ratio is currently 32.13%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SPGI has been the subject of several analyst reports. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on S&P Global from $540.00 to $590.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Barclays raised their price target on S&P Global from $550.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $570.00 to $595.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of S&P Global from $575.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of S&P Global from $600.00 to $585.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $573.23.

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.