S&P Global Inc. Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.96 (NYSE:SPGI)

S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, June 25th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 26th will be given a dividend of 0.96 per share by the business services provider on Wednesday, September 10th. This represents a $3.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%.

S&P Global has a payout ratio of 20.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect S&P Global to earn $18.96 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.84 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 20.3%.

S&P Global Price Performance

Shares of SPGI opened at $521.29 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $504.21 and its 200-day moving average is $503.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $159.88 billion, a PE ratio of 40.95, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.20. S&P Global has a fifty-two week low of $427.14 and a fifty-two week high of $545.39.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The business services provider reported $4.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.23 by $0.14. S&P Global had a net margin of 27.27% and a return on equity of 14.68%. The firm had revenue of $3.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.72 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $4.01 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that S&P Global will post 17.11 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at S&P Global

In other news, EVP Sally Moore sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $510.43, for a total value of $255,215.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 5,131 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,619,016.33. This represents a 8.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On S&P Global

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in S&P Global stock. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 4.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,176 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 143 shares during the quarter. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $1,582,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. 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. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of S&P Global from $629.00 to $603.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $616.00 to $589.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of S&P Global from $618.00 to $565.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Argus upgraded shares of S&P Global to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on S&P Global from $607.00 to $627.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $592.71.

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.