Arizona State Retirement System Buys 972 Shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Arizona State Retirement System lifted its position in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 1.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 92,752 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 972 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $46,193,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in S&P Global by 3.4% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,868,375 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,581,580,000 after purchasing an additional 292,436 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in S&P Global by 1.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,473,774 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,332,016,000 after acquiring an additional 113,146 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of S&P Global by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,965,369 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,081,830,000 after acquiring an additional 369,598 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in shares of S&P Global by 1.1% during the 3rd 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 during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of S&P Global by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,999,467 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $995,795,000 after purchasing an additional 62,770 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on SPGI shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on S&P Global from $595.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Citigroup started coverage on shares of S&P Global in a report on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $600.00 price target on the stock. Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $590.00 to $580.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on S&P Global from $617.00 to $633.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded S&P Global from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, S&P Global has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $590.23.

S&P Global Stock Down 2.5 %

Shares of SPGI opened at $516.24 on Wednesday. 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 Inc. has a 52-week low of $407.69 and a 52-week high of $545.39. The company has a market cap of $158.90 billion, a PE ratio of 41.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20. The business has a fifty day moving average of $514.59 and a 200 day moving average of $511.38.

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, 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 business earned $3.13 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that S&P Global Inc. will post 17.11 EPS for the current year.

S&P Global Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th will be given a dividend of $0.96 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 26th. This is a positive change from S&P Global’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $3.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.74%. S&P Global’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.