Great Lakes Advisors LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in S&P Global Inc. $SPGI

Great Lakes Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 88,487 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,384 shares during the period. Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $43,069,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. MTM Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of S&P Global during the second quarter worth about $27,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp purchased a new position in S&P Global in the third quarter worth approximately $29,000. Spurstone Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in S&P Global during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $34,000. Howard Hughes Medical Institute purchased a new stake in shares of S&P Global in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, First Pacific Financial raised its holdings in shares of S&P Global by 51.0% in the 3rd quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 74 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SPGI has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $640.00 price target on shares of S&P Global in a report on Tuesday, December 16th. Seaport Research Partners upgraded S&P Global to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $620.00 to $627.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. BMO Capital Markets set a $546.00 price objective on S&P Global in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Finally, William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of S&P Global in a report on Monday, November 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and sixteen have given a Buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $615.64.

S&P Global Stock Up 0.3%

SPGI opened at $528.01 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.97. S&P Global Inc. has a 12 month low of $427.14 and a 12 month high of $579.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $159.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.21. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $517.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $517.35.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $4.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.26 by $0.47. The firm had revenue of $3.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.77 billion. S&P Global had a return on equity of 15.90% and a net margin of 28.10%.S&P Global’s revenue was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.89 earnings per share. On average, equities 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 business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.97 per share. This is an increase from S&P Global’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.96. This represents a $3.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 25th. S&P Global’s payout ratio is presently 27.93%.

About S&P Global

S&P Global is a leading provider of financial information, analytics and benchmark indices that serve investors, issuers, corporations and public institutions worldwide. The company operates through well-known businesses that include credit ratings, market intelligence and index licensing, as well as commodity and energy information services. Its products and services are used to assess creditworthiness, inform investment decisions, construct and track benchmark portfolios, and support risk and commodity market analysis.

S&P Global Ratings provides independent credit ratings, research and data used by fixed income investors and capital market participants to evaluate issuer and transaction risk.