Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Sells 2,500 Shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund decreased its position in shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 4.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 55,100 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,500 shares during the quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $27,441,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Howard Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in S&P Global by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,027 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,010,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the period. Wealthspire Advisors LLC raised its stake in S&P Global by 17.8% during the 4th quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 768 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $383,000 after acquiring an additional 116 shares during the period. Fisher Funds Management LTD bought a new stake in shares of S&P Global during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,309,000. Richardson Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of S&P Global during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $199,000. Finally, Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc raised its position in shares of S&P Global by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc now owns 48,251 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $24,040,000 after buying an additional 546 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on SPGI. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $617.00 to $633.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $599.00 to $608.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of S&P Global from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, S&P Global currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $590.23.

S&P Global Stock Down 0.4 %

NYSE SPGI opened at $533.05 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The company has a fifty day moving average of $510.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $509.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $164.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.16, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20. S&P Global Inc. has a 52 week low of $407.69 and a 52 week high of $545.39.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The business services provider reported $3.77 EPS 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 business earned $3.13 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict 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 will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.96 per share. This represents a $3.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.72%. This is a positive change from S&P Global’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 26th. S&P Global’s payout ratio is presently 29.47%.

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.