Oppenheimer Raises S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) Price Target to $590.00

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) had its price objective upped by Oppenheimer from $540.00 to $590.00 in a research report report published on Thursday, Benzinga reports. Oppenheimer currently has an outperform rating on the business services provider’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on SPGI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on S&P Global from $550.00 to $565.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group raised their price target on S&P Global from $505.00 to $555.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of S&P Global to a strong-buy rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Raymond James cut shares of S&P Global from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of S&P Global from $530.00 to $564.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, S&P Global currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $556.58.

S&P Global Stock Performance

NYSE SPGI opened at $512.17 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $160.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $504.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $461.62. S&P Global has a 1 year low of $340.49 and a 1 year high of $528.02.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The business services provider reported $4.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.67 by $0.37. S&P Global had a net margin of 25.03% and a return on equity of 13.03%. The company had revenue of $3.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.12 EPS. S&P Global’s quarterly revenue was up 14.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that S&P Global will post 14.57 EPS for the current year.

S&P Global Dividend Announcement

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. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 26th. S&P Global’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 40.81%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Robert P. Kelly sold 7,662 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $481.28, for a total transaction of $3,687,567.36. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,830 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,618,662.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other S&P Global news, EVP Steven J. Kemps sold 2,700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $491.55, for a total transaction of $1,327,185.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,455 shares in the company, valued at $715,205.25. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Robert P. Kelly sold 7,662 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $481.28, for a total transaction of $3,687,567.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 15,830 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,618,662.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 17,862 shares of company stock worth $8,645,727 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pineridge Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of S&P Global in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. HWG Holdings LP acquired a new stake in S&P Global in the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Sachetta LLC grew its position in S&P Global by 103.4% in the second quarter. Sachetta LLC now owns 59 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC acquired a new position in S&P Global during the second quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, First Pacific Financial raised its stake in S&P Global by 49.0% during the second quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 73 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. 87.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.