TCW Group Inc. Lowers Position in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

TCW Group Inc. cut its holdings in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 4.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 329,399 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 16,102 shares during the quarter. S&P Global accounts for approximately 1.4% of TCW Group Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. TCW Group Inc.’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $164,051,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. First Personal Financial Services purchased a new stake in shares of S&P Global during the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Human Investing LLC purchased a new stake in shares of S&P Global during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in shares of S&P Global during the third quarter valued at about $31,000. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of S&P Global by 77.1% during the third quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 62 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dunhill Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of S&P Global by 94.4% during the third quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 70 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. 87.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on SPGI. Evercore ISI increased their price target 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. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective 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. StockNews.com downgraded shares of S&P Global from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of S&P Global in a report on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $600.00 price target on the stock. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $590.23.

S&P Global Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SPGI opened at $533.05 on Friday. The stock 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 12 month low of $407.69 and a 12 month high of $545.39. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $510.08 and its 200-day simple moving average is $509.23. 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 announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The business services provider reported $3.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter last year, the business posted $3.13 EPS. Analysts expect that S&P Global Inc. will post 17.11 EPS for the current year.

S&P Global Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th will be given a dividend of $0.96 per share. 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. This represents a $3.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.72%. S&P Global’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.47%.

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.