AXQ Capital LP Cuts Stake in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

AXQ Capital LP reduced its stake in shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 84.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 575 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 3,024 shares during the quarter. AXQ Capital LP’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $286,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SPGI. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in shares of S&P Global by 52.0% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 658,766 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $328,632,000 after acquiring an additional 225,370 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of S&P Global by 12.6% during the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 27,598 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $14,198,000 after acquiring an additional 3,093 shares during the last quarter. Eastern Bank boosted its position in shares of S&P Global by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 50,157 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $24,980,000 after acquiring an additional 1,530 shares during the last quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC boosted its position in shares of S&P Global by 19.1% during the 4th quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 37,746 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $18,799,000 after acquiring an additional 6,051 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new position in shares of S&P Global during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,170,000. 87.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on SPGI. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on S&P Global from $617.00 to $633.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Citigroup started coverage on S&P Global in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $600.00 price target for the company. Evercore ISI raised their price target on S&P Global from $599.00 to $608.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. StockNews.com downgraded S&P Global from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on S&P Global from $576.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $590.86.

S&P Global Stock Performance

Shares of S&P Global stock opened at $497.62 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $153.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. S&P Global Inc. has a 12 month low of $407.69 and a 12 month high of $545.39. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $513.85 and its 200-day moving average price is $510.40.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The business services provider reported $3.77 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 quarter last year, the company earned $3.13 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that S&P Global Inc. will post 17.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

S&P Global Increases Dividend

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

About S&P Global

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.