Ruggaard & Associates LLC Sells 113 Shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Ruggaard & Associates LLC cut its stake in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 19.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 475 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 113 shares during the quarter. Ruggaard & Associates LLC’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $237,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of S&P Global by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,589,982 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,273,264,000 after purchasing an additional 116,208 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of S&P Global during the 4th quarter valued at $1,725,084,000. Amundi boosted its holdings in shares of S&P Global by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 2,345,377 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,162,979,000 after buying an additional 145,434 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of S&P Global by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,999,467 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $995,795,000 after buying an additional 62,770 shares during the period. Finally, Cantillon Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of S&P Global by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,868,814 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $930,725,000 after acquiring an additional 9,880 shares in the last quarter. 87.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $590.00 to $580.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 3rd. UBS Group upped their price target on S&P Global from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on S&P Global from $576.00 to $590.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on S&P Global from $599.00 to $608.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on S&P Global from $595.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $590.86.

S&P Global Trading Down 7.7 %

NYSE:SPGI opened at $451.47 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $141.69 billion, a PE ratio of 36.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $513.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $509.23. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The business services provider reported $3.77 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.41 by $0.36. S&P Global had a return on equity of 14.33% and a net margin of 27.12%. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.13 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that S&P Global Inc. will post 17.11 earnings per share for the current year.

S&P Global Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th were paid a $0.96 dividend. This represents a $3.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.85%. This is a positive change from S&P Global’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 26th. S&P Global’s dividend payout ratio is 31.09%.

S&P Global Company Profile

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.