Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Sells 1,593 Shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. trimmed its holdings in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 5.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 30,045 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,593 shares during the quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $14,963,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in SPGI. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in S&P Global by 52.0% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 658,766 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $328,632,000 after acquiring an additional 225,370 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 3,093 shares during the period. Eastern Bank grew its holdings in shares of S&P Global by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 50,157 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $24,980,000 after purchasing an additional 1,530 shares during the last quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC increased its stake in shares of S&P Global by 19.1% in the fourth quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 37,746 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $18,799,000 after buying an additional 6,051 shares during the period. Finally, Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new stake in S&P Global during the 3rd quarter valued at $27,170,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of S&P Global from $576.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on S&P Global from $595.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. UBS Group increased their price objective on S&P Global from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on S&P Global from $590.00 to $580.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Mizuho assumed coverage on S&P Global in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $599.00 price target for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $590.86.

S&P Global Stock Performance

Shares of SPGI opened at $504.00 on Tuesday. S&P Global Inc. has a 52 week low of $407.69 and a 52 week high of $545.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The stock has a market cap of $155.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $514.28 and its 200-day moving average price is $510.31.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last released its 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 return on equity of 14.33% and a net margin of 27.12%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.13 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that S&P Global Inc. will post 17.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

S&P Global Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th were paid a dividend of $0.96 per share. This represents a $3.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. This is an increase from S&P Global’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 26th. 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.