New Mexico Educational Retirement Board Trims Position in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

New Mexico Educational Retirement Board cut its holdings in shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 2.6% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 14,886 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 400 shares during the quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $7,564,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC bought a new stake in S&P Global in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC bought a new stake in S&P Global in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in S&P Global in the first quarter worth $28,000. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. boosted its holdings in S&P Global by 131.0% in the fourth quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 67 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alpine Bank Wealth Management bought a new stake in S&P Global in the first quarter worth $33,000. 87.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

S&P Global Stock Down 0.7%

SPGI stock opened at $526.31 on Wednesday. S&P Global Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $427.14 and a fifty-two week high of $545.39. The business’s 50-day moving average is $514.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $504.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.90. The company has a market cap of $161.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.19.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The business services provider reported $4.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.23 by $0.14. S&P Global had a return on equity of 14.68% and a net margin of 27.27%. The company had revenue of $3.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.72 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $4.01 earnings per share. S&P Global’s revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that S&P Global Inc. will post 17.11 earnings per share for the current year.

S&P Global Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 26th will be given a $0.96 dividend. This represents a $3.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 26th. S&P Global’s payout ratio is 30.16%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on SPGI. UBS Group boosted their target price on S&P Global from $575.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on S&P Global from $618.00 to $565.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on S&P Global from $629.00 to $603.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Bank of America initiated coverage on S&P Global in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $600.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Mizuho initiated coverage on S&P Global in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $599.00 price target on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, S&P Global presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $596.79.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other S&P Global news, EVP Sally Moore sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 5,131 shares in the company, valued at $2,619,016.33. This represents a 8.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.