Graham Capital Management L.P. Makes New Investment in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Graham Capital Management L.P. acquired a new stake in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 28,191 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $14,040,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of S&P Global by 4.4% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 365,737 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $188,948,000 after buying an additional 15,456 shares in the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC grew its holdings in S&P Global by 26.5% during the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 844 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $421,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in shares of S&P Global by 127.5% in the 4th quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,017 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $507,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares during the last quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI raised its holdings in shares of S&P Global by 10.8% in the 4th quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI now owns 707 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $352,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HBW Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of S&P Global during the 4th quarter worth $236,000. 87.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at S&P Global

In other news, EVP Sally Moore sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $510.43, for a total transaction of $255,215.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 5,131 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,619,016.33. The trade was a 8.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on SPGI. StockNews.com cut S&P Global from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on S&P Global from $607.00 to $627.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of S&P Global from $555.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $618.00 to $565.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of S&P Global from $629.00 to $603.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, S&P Global currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $592.71.

S&P Global Stock Performance

NYSE SPGI opened at $507.44 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. S&P Global Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $419.49 and a fifty-two week high of $545.39. The business has a fifty day moving average of $486.24 and a 200-day moving average of $501.60. The stock has a market cap of $155.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.23.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The business services provider reported $4.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.23 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $3.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.72 billion. S&P Global had a net margin of 27.12% and a return on equity of 14.33%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $4.01 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that S&P Global Inc. will post 17.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

S&P Global Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.96 per share. This represents a $3.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 28th. S&P Global’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.16%.

About S&P Global

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.