Natixis Lowers Holdings in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Natixis lowered its stake in shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 52.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 22,208 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 24,366 shares during the quarter. Natixis’ holdings in S&P Global were worth $11,060,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of SPGI. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in S&P Global in the 4th quarter worth $1,725,084,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in S&P Global during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $527,207,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in S&P Global by 71,024.1% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 619,491 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $308,525,000 after buying an additional 618,620 shares in the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new stake in S&P Global in the 4th quarter worth approximately $144,091,000. Finally, APG Asset Management N.V. raised its holdings in shares of S&P Global by 1,384.4% during the 4th quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 290,500 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $139,718,000 after acquiring an additional 270,930 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SPGI has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Mizuho started coverage on shares of S&P Global in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $599.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of S&P Global from $633.00 to $607.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. StockNews.com lowered S&P Global from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on S&P Global from $599.00 to $608.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on S&P Global from $618.00 to $565.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $591.86.

S&P Global Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of SPGI opened at $462.55 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $145.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.45, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85. S&P Global Inc. has a 1-year low of $407.69 and a 1-year high of $545.39. The company has a 50-day moving average of $499.33 and a 200 day moving average of $504.54.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The business services provider reported $3.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 in the prior year, the firm earned $3.13 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that S&P Global Inc. will post 17.11 EPS for the current 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 given a dividend of $0.96 per share. This is an increase from S&P Global’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 26th. This represents a $3.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.83%. S&P Global’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.