Lord Abbett & CO. LLC Raises Stock Position in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Lord Abbett & CO. LLC lifted its stake in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 0.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 359,608 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 36 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $179,096,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on SPGI. UBS Group boosted their price target on S&P Global from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on S&P Global from $618.00 to $565.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Bank of America began coverage on shares of S&P Global in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $600.00 price objective on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $633.00 to $607.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, 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 report on Wednesday, February 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, S&P Global has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $591.86.

S&P Global Stock Performance

SPGI opened at $481.14 on Friday. S&P Global Inc. has a 1-year low of $407.69 and a 1-year high of $545.39. The stock has a market cap of $151.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.26. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $493.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $503.36. 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 (NYSE:SPGI) last posted its 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 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. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that S&P Global Inc. will post 17.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

S&P Global Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th were issued a dividend of $0.96 per share. This is an increase from S&P Global’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $3.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 26th. 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.