Welch & Forbes LLC Decreases Stake in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Welch & Forbes LLC decreased its stake in shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 20.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,070 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 272 shares during the quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $471,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management boosted its holdings in S&P Global by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 1,953 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $860,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the period. Apollon Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in S&P Global by 111.7% during the fourth quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 18,798 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $8,281,000 after purchasing an additional 9,920 shares in the last quarter. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp lifted its position in shares of S&P Global by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp now owns 10,306 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,540,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System increased its stake in S&P Global by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 24,975 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $11,002,000 after purchasing an additional 265 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC increased its position in shares of S&P Global by 75.7% in the fourth quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 6,052 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,666,000 after acquiring an additional 2,607 shares in the last quarter. 87.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

S&P Global Stock Performance

Shares of S&P Global stock traded up $0.32 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $428.88. 197,465 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,353,946. The stock has a market capitalization of $134.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.04, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $422.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $420.97. S&P Global Inc. has a 1 year low of $340.49 and a 1 year high of $461.16.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The business services provider reported $4.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.68 by $0.33. S&P Global had a return on equity of 12.20% and a net margin of 22.01%. The business had revenue of $3.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.39 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that S&P Global Inc. will post 14.1 EPS for the current year.

S&P Global Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 29th will be given a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 28th. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.85%. S&P Global’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.81%.

Insider Activity at S&P Global

In related news, CEO Douglas L. Peterson sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $424.74, for a total value of $2,548,440.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 162,530 shares in the company, valued at $69,032,992.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SPGI has been the topic of several research reports. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $480.00 to $482.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of S&P Global from $480.00 to $483.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 1st. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $422.00 to $452.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of S&P Global in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of S&P Global in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, S&P Global has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $462.60.

S&P Global Company 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.