Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. Grows Stake in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. lifted its position in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 8.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,305 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the quarter. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $1,707,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in SPGI. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new position in shares of S&P Global in the 3rd quarter worth $27,000. First Personal Financial Services bought a new position in S&P Global in the third quarter valued at $29,000. Sachetta LLC raised its position in S&P Global by 103.4% during the second quarter. Sachetta LLC now owns 59 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in S&P Global during the third quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, HWG Holdings LP purchased a new position in shares of S&P Global in the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on SPGI. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on S&P Global from $536.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $564.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price 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. 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. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on S&P Global from $589.00 to $564.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, S&P Global has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $571.31.

S&P Global Stock Down 0.3 %

SPGI stock traded down $1.69 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $517.91. The stock had a trading volume of 59,215 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,208,981. The business has a 50-day moving average of $509.21 and a two-hundred day moving average of $483.13. 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 firm has a market cap of $160.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 1.18. S&P Global Inc. has a 52-week low of $407.69 and a 52-week high of $533.29.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The business services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.43 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.21 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that S&P Global Inc. will post 15.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

S&P Global Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be paid a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 26th. S&P Global’s payout ratio is 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.