S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) Short Interest Update

S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) saw a large increase in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 3,620,000 shares, an increase of 25.3% from the February 13th total of 2,890,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,320,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.7 days. Approximately 1.2% of the company’s shares are short sold.

S&P Global Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE SPGI traded up $7.89 during trading on Monday, reaching $494.38. 1,168,277 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,148,650. S&P Global has a twelve month low of $407.69 and a twelve month high of $545.39. The company has a market capitalization of $152.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20. 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 business’s 50-day moving average price is $513.56 and its 200 day moving average price is $510.89.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The business services provider reported $3.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.13 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that S&P Global will post 17.11 EPS 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 given a $0.96 dividend. This represents a $3.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.78%. This is a positive change from S&P Global’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 26th. S&P Global’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.09%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On S&P Global

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SPGI. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in S&P Global by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,868,375 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,581,580,000 after acquiring an additional 292,436 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of S&P Global by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,589,982 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,273,264,000 after purchasing an additional 116,208 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of S&P Global by 6.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,965,369 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,081,830,000 after purchasing an additional 369,598 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in S&P Global in the fourth quarter worth about $1,725,084,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in S&P Global by 19.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,276,043 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,631,568,000 after purchasing an additional 525,347 shares in the last quarter. 87.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SPGI has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of S&P Global in a report on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $600.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of S&P Global from $617.00 to $633.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on S&P Global from $576.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Oppenheimer dropped their target price on S&P Global from $590.00 to $580.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded S&P Global from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. 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 data from MarketBeat, S&P Global presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $590.86.

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.