Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC Buys 555 Shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 4.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 13,663 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 555 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $6,805,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SPGI. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in S&P Global by 3.4% during the third 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 buying an additional 292,436 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in S&P Global by 1.8% during 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 buying an additional 113,146 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position 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 worth $3,081,830,000 after buying an additional 369,598 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in S&P Global by 1.1% during 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 worth $1,401,909,000 after buying an additional 28,458 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in S&P Global by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,999,467 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $995,795,000 after buying an additional 62,770 shares in the last quarter. 87.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

S&P Global Trading Down 1.7 %

NYSE:SPGI opened at $514.13 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $515.15 and a 200 day moving average of $511.48. S&P Global Inc. has a 52 week low of $407.69 and a 52 week 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. The firm has a market capitalization of $158.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20.

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

S&P Global Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 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 yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 26th. S&P Global’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.09%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on SPGI shares. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of S&P Global from $599.00 to $608.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of S&P Global from $595.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of S&P Global from $617.00 to $633.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. StockNews.com lowered shares of S&P Global from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Citigroup started coverage on shares of S&P Global in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $600.00 target price for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $590.23.

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.