Sawgrass Asset Management LLC Sells 739 Shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Sawgrass Asset Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 3.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 22,797 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 739 shares during the quarter. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $10,043,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Lindbrook Capital LLC lifted its holdings in S&P Global by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,784 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $652,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in S&P Global by 16.8% during the third quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,304 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $476,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in S&P Global by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,137 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,146,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the period. Calamos Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of S&P Global by 85.0% during the third quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC now owns 104,127 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $38,049,000 after purchasing an additional 47,827 shares during the period. Finally, First Merchants Corp raised its position in shares of S&P Global by 11.0% in the third quarter. First Merchants Corp now owns 9,408 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,438,000 after buying an additional 933 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

S&P Global Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of S&P Global stock traded up $0.65 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $429.21. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 745,519 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,360,345. The stock has a market cap of $134.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.14. S&P Global Inc. has a 52 week low of $340.49 and a 52 week high of $461.16. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $422.49 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $420.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.92.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The business services provider reported $4.01 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.68 by $0.33. S&P Global had a return on equity of 12.20% and a net margin of 22.01%. The company had revenue of $3.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.39 billion. Equities research analysts anticipate that S&P Global Inc. will post 14.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

S&P Global Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Douglas L. Peterson sold 6,000 shares of S&P Global stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $424.74, for a total value of $2,548,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 162,530 shares in the company, valued at approximately $69,032,992.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Raymond James raised their price objective on S&P Global from $422.00 to $452.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of S&P Global from $480.00 to $483.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $480.00 to $482.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on S&P Global from $442.00 to $446.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of S&P Global in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $462.60.

S&P Global 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.