AJOVista LLC Invests $108,000 in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

AJOVista LLC bought a new stake in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 246 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $108,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Provence Wealth Management Group acquired a new stake in shares of S&P Global in the fourth quarter worth $265,000. Sapient Capital LLC acquired a new stake in S&P Global during the 4th quarter worth about $235,000. 9258 Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of S&P Global by 30.4% during the 4th quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,758 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $774,000 after buying an additional 410 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of S&P Global by 2,274.0% in the 4th quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 79,031 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $34,815,000 after buying an additional 75,702 shares during the period. Finally, Smart Money Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of S&P Global in the fourth quarter worth about $282,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at S&P Global

In other news, CEO Douglas L. Peterson sold 6,000 shares of the business’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 transaction of $2,548,440.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 162,530 shares in the company, valued at approximately $69,032,992.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

S&P Global Price Performance

Shares of S&P Global stock traded up $8.22 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $425.18. 1,917,839 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,418,015. The stock has a market capitalization of $133.04 billion, a PE ratio of 47.67, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.14. The business has a 50-day moving average of $422.63 and a 200 day moving average of $419.15. S&P Global Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $340.49 and a fifty-two week high of $461.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The business services provider reported $4.01 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $3.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.39 billion. On average, analysts predict that S&P Global Inc. will post 14.1 EPS for the current year.

S&P Global Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 29th will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 28th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.86%. S&P Global’s payout ratio is presently 40.81%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SPGI has been the subject of several recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of S&P Global in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of S&P Global from $442.00 to $446.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of S&P Global from $422.00 to $452.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $480.00 to $483.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on S&P Global from $500.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $462.60.

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.