WASHINGTON TRUST Co Sells 291 Shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

WASHINGTON TRUST Co decreased its position in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 44,538 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 291 shares during the period. WASHINGTON TRUST Co’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $22,181,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of S&P Global by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,868,375 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,581,580,000 after buying an additional 292,436 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in S&P Global by 1.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,473,774 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,332,016,000 after acquiring an additional 113,146 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in S&P Global by 6.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,965,369 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,081,830,000 after acquiring an additional 369,598 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in S&P Global by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,713,617 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,401,909,000 after purchasing an additional 28,458 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in S&P Global by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,936,697 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,000,536,000 after purchasing an additional 26,300 shares in the last quarter. 87.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on SPGI shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of S&P Global from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on S&P Global from $590.00 to $580.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Robert W. Baird increased 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on S&P Global from $600.00 to $585.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on S&P Global from $605.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, S&P Global has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $587.92.

S&P Global Price Performance

SPGI opened at $539.77 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $167.49 billion, a PE ratio of 47.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.20. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $506.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $506.78. S&P Global Inc. has a 1 year low of $407.69 and a 1 year high of $545.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.94.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The business services provider reported $3.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter last year, the company posted $3.13 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that S&P Global Inc. will post 15.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

S&P Global Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 26th will be issued a $0.96 dividend. This is a positive change from S&P Global’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $3.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 26th. S&P Global’s payout ratio is presently 32.13%.

S&P Global Company 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.