Prosperity Financial Group Inc. Acquires 241 Shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Prosperity Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 23.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,289 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 241 shares during the quarter. Prosperity Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $642,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SPGI. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of S&P Global in the 4th quarter worth approximately $527,207,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of S&P Global by 71,024.1% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 619,491 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $308,525,000 after buying an additional 618,620 shares during the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new stake in shares of S&P Global in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $224,976,000. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of S&P Global by 6.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,965,369 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,081,830,000 after purchasing an additional 369,598 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new stake in shares of S&P Global during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $144,091,000. 87.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on SPGI. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target 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. UBS Group lifted their price target on S&P Global from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on S&P Global from $595.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. StockNews.com downgraded S&P Global from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Citigroup initiated coverage on S&P Global in a research note on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $600.00 price target for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $590.23.

S&P Global Stock Performance

NYSE:SPGI opened at $480.51 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $514.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $511.46. S&P Global Inc. has a 52-week low of $407.69 and a 52-week high of $545.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $147.90 billion, a PE ratio of 38.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The business services provider reported $3.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 quarter last year, the firm earned $3.13 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that S&P Global Inc. will post 17.11 EPS for the current year.

S&P Global Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th will be paid a $0.96 dividend. This is a positive change from S&P Global’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 26th. This represents a $3.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.80%. S&P Global’s dividend payout ratio is 31.09%.

S&P Global 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.