S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) Stake Lessened by Souders Financial Advisors

Souders Financial Advisors cut its stake in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 8.0% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 2,994 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 259 shares during the period. Souders Financial Advisors’ holdings in S&P Global were worth $1,521,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of S&P Global in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC acquired a new position in S&P Global in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in S&P Global in the first quarter valued at about $28,000. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in S&P Global by 103.3% during the first quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 61 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alpine Bank Wealth Management bought a new position in S&P Global during the 1st quarter worth approximately $33,000. 87.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

S&P Global Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SPGI opened at $524.52 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $160.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 1.19. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $517.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $506.36. S&P Global Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $427.14 and a fifty-two week high of $545.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The business services provider reported $4.37 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.23 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $3.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.72 billion. S&P Global had a net margin of 27.27% and a return on equity of 14.68%. S&P Global’s revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $4.01 EPS. Equities analysts expect 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, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 26th will be given a dividend of $0.96 per share. This represents a $3.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 26th. S&P Global’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.16%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SPGI has been the topic of a number of research reports. Argus raised shares of S&P Global to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $616.00 to $589.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of S&P Global from $629.00 to $603.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on S&P Global from $567.00 to $592.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on S&P Global from $575.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $596.79.

Insider Activity at S&P Global

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

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.