Great Lakes Retirement Inc. Trims Stake in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Great Lakes Retirement Inc. reduced its stake in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 1.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,429 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 80 shares during the quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc.’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $2,206,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of SPGI. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new stake in S&P Global during the third quarter valued at about $27,000. First Personal Financial Services purchased a new position in S&P Global in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in S&P Global in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. boosted its stake in S&P Global by 77.1% in the 3rd quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 62 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the period. Finally, Dunhill Financial LLC grew its holdings in S&P Global by 94.4% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. 87.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on SPGI. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of S&P Global from $570.00 to $595.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Citigroup began coverage on S&P Global in a report on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $600.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on S&P Global from $600.00 to $585.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on S&P Global from $564.00 to $576.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, S&P Global presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $584.54.

S&P Global Stock Up 4.9 %

Shares of NYSE SPGI opened at $540.80 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $505.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $506.00. S&P Global Inc. has a 1 year low of $407.69 and a 1 year high of $542.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The company has a market cap of $167.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.73, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.20.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 25.80% and a return on equity of 13.72%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.13 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that S&P Global Inc. will post 15.34 earnings per share 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. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th will be issued a dividend of $0.96 per share. This represents a $3.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.71%. This is a boost 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 dividend payout ratio is presently 32.13%.

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.