Ascent Group LLC Acquires 2,793 Shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Ascent Group LLC boosted its holdings in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 48.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,539 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,793 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $4,411,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SPGI. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of S&P Global by 6.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,965,369 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,081,830,000 after buying an additional 369,598 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in S&P Global by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,826,597 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,260,665,000 after acquiring an additional 29,227 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in shares of S&P Global by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,713,617 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,401,909,000 after acquiring an additional 28,458 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of S&P Global by 13.5% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,516,811 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,115,697,000 after purchasing an additional 298,645 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of S&P Global by 1.4% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,936,697 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,000,536,000 after purchasing an additional 26,300 shares during the period. 87.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SPGI has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays raised their target price on S&P Global from $550.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of S&P Global from $564.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Raymond James lowered shares of S&P Global from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on S&P Global from $575.00 to $620.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on S&P Global from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, S&P Global has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $571.31.

S&P Global Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:SPGI opened at $522.51 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $509.21 and a 200-day moving average of $485.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 0.94. S&P Global Inc. has a twelve month low of $407.69 and a twelve month high of $533.29. The firm has a market cap of $162.13 billion, a PE ratio of 46.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.18.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The business services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.64 by $0.25. S&P Global had a net margin of 25.80% and a return on equity of 13.72%. The firm had revenue of $3.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.43 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.21 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that S&P Global Inc. will post 15.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

S&P Global Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be given a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 26th. S&P Global’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.13%.

S&P Global Profile

S&P Global Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides credit ratings, benchmarks, analytics, and workflow solutions in the global capital, commodity, and automotive markets. It operates through S&P Global Market Intelligence, S&P Global Ratings, S&P Global Commodity Insights, S&P Global Mobility, S&P Dow Jones Indices, and S&P Global Engineering Solutions segments.