Financial Counselors Inc. Raises Position in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Financial Counselors Inc. grew its position in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 14.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 12,602 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,599 shares during the period. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $6,510,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in SPGI. HWG Holdings LP purchased a new position in shares of S&P Global during the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new stake in S&P Global during the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Sachetta LLC increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. First Personal Financial Services purchased a new stake in S&P Global during the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Hobbs Group Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in S&P Global during the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. 87.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on SPGI. Evercore ISI began coverage on shares of S&P Global in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $599.00 target price for the company. Stifel Nicolaus upped 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of S&P Global from $600.00 to $585.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of S&P Global from $536.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of S&P Global from $564.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, S&P Global has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $571.31.

S&P Global Stock Performance

SPGI opened at $522.86 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $162.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.15, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a fifty day moving average of $509.24 and a 200 day moving average of $484.31. S&P Global Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $407.69 and a fifty-two week high of $533.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 0.94.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The business services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.64 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $3.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.43 billion. S&P Global had a net margin of 25.80% and a return on equity of 13.72%. S&P Global’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.21 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that S&P Global Inc. will post 15.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

S&P Global Announces Dividend

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