Waverton Investment Management Ltd Decreases Holdings in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Waverton Investment Management Ltd cut its stake in shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 55.6% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,198 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,755 shares during the quarter. Waverton Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $1,135,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of S&P Global during the 1st quarter valued at about $351,774,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of S&P Global by 174,815.4% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 467,024 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $241,274,000 after purchasing an additional 466,757 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of S&P Global by 352.2% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 463,383 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $206,669,000 after purchasing an additional 360,909 shares during the last quarter. Third Point LLC bought a new position in shares of S&P Global during the 1st quarter valued at about $142,526,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of S&P Global by 13.5% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,516,811 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,115,697,000 after purchasing an additional 298,645 shares during the last quarter. 87.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SPGI has been the subject of several research reports. Raymond James downgraded shares of S&P Global from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. 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 research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of S&P Global from $530.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of S&P Global in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $599.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $605.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $571.31.

S&P Global Price Performance

NYSE SPGI opened at $507.34 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 0.94. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $511.07 and its 200-day moving average price is $476.41. S&P Global Inc. has a 52-week low of $392.69 and a 52-week high of $533.29. The company has a market cap of $157.43 billion, a PE ratio of 44.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.18.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The business services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 last year, the firm earned $3.21 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that S&P Global Inc. will post 15.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

S&P Global Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.72%. S&P Global’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.13%.

About S&P Global

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.