Welch & Forbes LLC Trims Stake in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Welch & Forbes LLC lessened its holdings in shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 20.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,070 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 272 shares during the quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $471,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SPGI. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of S&P Global by 18.5% during the 3rd quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,409 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $515,000 after buying an additional 220 shares during the last quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors raised its position in shares of S&P Global by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 1,523 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $671,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its stake in S&P Global by 54.2% in the fourth quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 3,172 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,397,000 after buying an additional 1,115 shares during the last quarter. Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning bought a new position in S&P Global in the 4th quarter worth about $1,644,000. Finally, Aspiriant LLC acquired a new stake in S&P Global in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $398,000. 87.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other S&P Global news, CEO Douglas L. Peterson sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SPGI has been the subject of a number of research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of S&P Global in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on S&P Global from $442.00 to $446.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $422.00 to $452.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on S&P Global from $480.00 to $483.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their target price on S&P Global from $480.00 to $482.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $462.60.

S&P Global Stock Performance

SPGI traded up $0.32 on Wednesday, reaching $428.88. The company had a trading volume of 197,465 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,353,946. S&P Global Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $340.49 and a fifty-two week high of $461.16. The stock has a market cap of $134.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.14. The company’s fifty day moving average is $422.49 and its 200 day moving average is $420.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.92.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last announced 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. The business had revenue of $3.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.39 billion. S&P Global had a net margin of 22.01% and a return on equity of 12.20%. As a group, analysts predict that S&P Global Inc. will post 14.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

S&P Global Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 28th. S&P Global’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.81%.

S&P Global Company Profile

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.