Raymond James Financial Inc. Invests $527.21 Million in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 1,058,583 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $527,207,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of S&P Global by 52.0% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 658,766 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $328,632,000 after acquiring an additional 225,370 shares during the last quarter. GDS Wealth Management increased its position in shares of S&P Global by 7.0% during the third quarter. GDS Wealth Management now owns 27,358 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $14,134,000 after acquiring an additional 1,801 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of S&P Global by 12.6% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 27,598 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $14,198,000 after acquiring an additional 3,093 shares during the last quarter. Eastern Bank increased its position in shares of S&P Global by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 50,157 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $24,980,000 after acquiring an additional 1,530 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new stake in S&P Global in the third quarter worth $27,170,000. 87.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on S&P Global from $617.00 to $633.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Citigroup assumed coverage on S&P Global in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $600.00 target price for the company. Evercore ISI raised their target price on S&P Global from $599.00 to $608.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on S&P Global from $590.00 to $580.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on S&P Global from $576.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $590.23.

S&P Global Price Performance

S&P Global stock opened at $523.27 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $161.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.37, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20. S&P Global Inc. has a one year low of $407.69 and a one year high of $545.39. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $514.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $511.46. 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 quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The business services provider reported $3.77 earnings per share (EPS) 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 quarter last year, the business earned $3.13 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that S&P Global Inc. will post 17.11 EPS for the current year.

S&P Global Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 26th will be paid 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.73%. S&P Global’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.