Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. Boosts Stock Position in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 11.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,453 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 146 shares during the period. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $738,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in S&P Global by 19.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,276,043 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,631,568,000 after purchasing an additional 525,347 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in shares of S&P Global by 13.2% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,071,407 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,529,653,000 after buying an additional 357,790 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of S&P Global by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 2,184,312 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,087,853,000 after buying an additional 224,294 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of S&P Global by 60,982.3% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,139,101 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,086,877,000 after buying an additional 2,135,599 shares during the period. Finally, Valley Forge Capital Management LP increased its stake in shares of S&P Global by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Valley Forge Capital Management LP now owns 1,755,098 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $874,091,000 after buying an additional 49,200 shares during the period. 87.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Sally Moore sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $510.43, for a total transaction of $255,215.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 5,131 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,619,016.33. This trade represents a 8.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on SPGI. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $587.00 to $595.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on S&P Global from $616.00 to $589.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Argus raised S&P Global to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on S&P Global from $627.00 to $632.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on S&P Global from $610.00 to $620.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, S&P Global presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $605.62.

S&P Global Trading Up 3.9%

NYSE:SPGI opened at $550.03 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The company has a market capitalization of $168.69 billion, a PE ratio of 43.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.19. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $519.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $508.64. S&P Global Inc. has a 52-week low of $427.14 and a 52-week high of $558.86.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $4.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.18 by $0.25. S&P Global had a net margin of 27.27% and a return on equity of 14.68%. The business had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.65 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $4.04 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that S&P Global Inc. will post 17.11 EPS for the current year.

S&P Global Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 26th will be issued a dividend of $0.96 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 26th. This represents a $3.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. S&P Global’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.