Sandhill Capital Partners LLC Sells 5,471 Shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Sandhill Capital Partners LLC lowered its position in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 6.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 83,089 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 5,471 shares during the quarter. S&P Global makes up about 3.2% of Sandhill Capital Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Sandhill Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $41,381,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC raised its holdings in S&P Global by 3.2% in the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 911 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $471,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Centiva Capital LP purchased a new stake in S&P Global during the 3rd quarter valued at about $478,000. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of S&P Global in the 3rd quarter valued at $55,000. Zacks Investment Management purchased a new stake in shares of S&P Global in the third quarter worth about $269,000. Finally, Dunhill Financial LLC grew its holdings in S&P Global by 94.4% during the third 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 period. 87.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on SPGI. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on S&P Global from $595.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of 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 cut S&P Global from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on S&P Global from $590.00 to $580.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Citigroup started coverage on shares of S&P Global in a report on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $600.00 price target for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $590.86.

S&P Global Price Performance

SPGI stock opened at $437.19 on Tuesday. S&P Global Inc. has a 52-week low of $407.69 and a 52-week high of $545.39. The business has a fifty day moving average of $512.03 and a two-hundred day moving average of $508.54. The stock has a market cap of $137.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.26. 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 (NYSE:SPGI) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The business services provider reported $3.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 firm earned $3.13 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th were paid a $0.96 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 26th. This is a boost 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 0.88%. S&P Global’s payout ratio is presently 31.09%.

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.