Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Sells 900 Shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System reduced its position in shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 5.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,100 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 900 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $8,516,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of SPGI. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new stake in S&P Global in the third quarter valued at about $27,000. First Personal Financial Services acquired a new position in shares of S&P Global during the 3rd quarter worth about $29,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in shares of S&P Global in the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. raised its position in shares of S&P Global by 77.1% in the 3rd quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 62 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the period. Finally, Dunhill Financial LLC boosted its stake in S&P Global by 94.4% during the 3rd quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 70 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of S&P Global in a research note on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $600.00 target price for the company. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $605.00 to $610.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on S&P Global from $536.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on S&P Global from $570.00 to $595.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on S&P Global from $564.00 to $576.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $584.54.

S&P Global Price Performance

Shares of SPGI opened at $540.80 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $505.68 and a 200-day moving average of $506.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $167.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.73, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.20. S&P Global Inc. has a twelve month low of $407.69 and a twelve month high of $542.00.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last released 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 net margin of 25.80% and a return on equity of 13.72%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.13 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that S&P Global Inc. will post 15.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

S&P Global Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 26th will be issued a dividend of $0.96 per share. This represents a $3.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 26th. This is a positive change from S&P Global’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. S&P Global’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.13%.

S&P Global Company 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.