Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD. Takes $494,000 Position in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD. acquired a new stake in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 972 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $494,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SPGI. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC bought a new stake in S&P Global during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of S&P Global during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Human Investing LLC purchased a new stake in shares of S&P Global during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new stake in shares of S&P Global in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. grew its position in shares of S&P Global by 131.0% in the 4th quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 67 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. 87.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at S&P Global

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on SPGI shares. Argus raised shares of S&P Global to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Mizuho began coverage on S&P Global in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $599.00 price target on the stock. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on S&P Global from $576.00 to $590.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on S&P Global from $595.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on S&P Global from $618.00 to $565.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $592.71.

S&P Global Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of SPGI opened at $519.58 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $159.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.07, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20. S&P Global Inc. has a 52 week low of $425.49 and a 52 week high of $545.39. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $492.79 and its 200-day moving average price is $504.25. 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 (NYSE:SPGI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The business services provider reported $4.37 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.23 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $3.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.72 billion. S&P Global had a return on equity of 14.33% and a net margin of 27.12%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $4.01 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that S&P Global Inc. will post 17.11 EPS for the current year.

S&P Global Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 11th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 28th will be given a dividend of $0.96 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 28th. This represents a $3.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.74%. S&P Global’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.