Sterling Investment Management LLC Sells 75 Shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Sterling Investment Management LLC lowered its holdings in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 1.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 5,771 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 75 shares during the period. S&P Global accounts for 1.9% of Sterling Investment Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest holding. Sterling Investment Management LLC’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $2,542,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BCK Partners Inc. bought a new stake in S&P Global during the first quarter worth about $1,969,000. Markel Corp grew its stake in S&P Global by 0.8% during the first quarter. Markel Corp now owns 149,790 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $61,441,000 after buying an additional 1,250 shares during the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp grew its stake in S&P Global by 1.6% during the first quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 2,239 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $919,000 after buying an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in S&P Global by 115.4% during the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,154 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $883,000 after buying an additional 1,154 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management grew its stake in S&P Global by 12.4% during the first quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 736 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $302,000 after buying an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

S&P Global Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE SPGI opened at $422.81 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $433.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $410.55. S&P Global Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $329.46 and a fifty-two week high of $461.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $135.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The business services provider reported $3.13 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.15 by ($0.02). S&P Global had a net margin of 21.02% and a return on equity of 11.34%. The business had revenue of $3.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.13 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.54 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that S&P Global Inc. will post 14 EPS for the current year.

S&P Global Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 27th were issued a $0.91 dividend. This is a positive change from S&P Global’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 26th. S&P Global’s dividend payout ratio is currently 44.23%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on SPGI shares. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of S&P Global in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $422.00 to $452.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, S&P Global currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $446.25.

Insider Activity at S&P Global

In other S&P Global news, CEO Douglas L. Peterson sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $424.74, for a total value of $2,548,440.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 162,530 shares in the company, valued at $69,032,992.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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, and S&P Dow Jones Indices segments.