Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. Increases Stock Position in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 7.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 271,405 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 19,441 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned about 0.09% of S&P Global worth $135,168,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Headinvest LLC raised its holdings in S&P Global by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Headinvest LLC now owns 997 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $515,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. EWA LLC increased its position in shares of S&P Global by 4.2% in the third quarter. EWA LLC now owns 498 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $254,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC raised its stake in shares of S&P Global by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 1,544 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $788,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its position in shares of S&P Global by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,034 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $515,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Personal CFO Solutions LLC grew its stake in S&P Global by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 674 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $336,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on SPGI. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $599.00 to $608.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. StockNews.com lowered shares of S&P Global from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on S&P Global from $595.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on S&P Global from $576.00 to $590.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered their price target on S&P Global from $590.00 to $580.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, S&P Global has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $590.86.

S&P Global Price Performance

Shares of SPGI stock opened at $508.95 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The company has a market capitalization of $156.66 billion, a PE ratio of 41.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $515.19 and its two-hundred day moving average is $510.30. S&P Global Inc. has a 12 month low of $407.69 and a 12 month high of $545.39.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The business services provider reported $3.77 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.41 by $0.36. S&P Global had a net margin of 27.12% and a return on equity of 14.33%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.13 EPS. Analysts predict that S&P Global Inc. will post 17.11 earnings per share for the current year.

S&P Global Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th were issued a dividend of $0.96 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 26th. This is a boost from S&P Global’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $3.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. S&P Global’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.09%.

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.