Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases 252 Shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 2.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 11,507 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 252 shares during the quarter. S&P Global accounts for approximately 0.9% of Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $5,731,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in S&P Global by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,868,375 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,581,580,000 after acquiring an additional 292,436 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in S&P Global by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,473,774 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,332,016,000 after acquiring an additional 113,146 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in S&P Global by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,965,369 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,081,830,000 after acquiring an additional 369,598 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in S&P Global by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,713,617 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,401,909,000 after acquiring an additional 28,458 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi grew its holdings in S&P Global by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 2,345,377 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,162,979,000 after acquiring an additional 145,434 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

S&P Global Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:SPGI opened at $497.62 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $153.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $513.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $510.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85. S&P Global Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $407.69 and a fifty-two week high of $545.39.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last announced its earnings results 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 net margin of 27.12% and a return on equity of 14.33%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.13 EPS. As a group, sell-side 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th were issued a dividend of $0.96 per share. This is an increase from S&P Global’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $3.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 26th. S&P Global’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.09%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on SPGI shares. Citigroup started coverage on shares of S&P Global in a report on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $600.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of S&P Global from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $599.00 to $608.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of S&P Global from $595.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of S&P Global from $576.00 to $590.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $590.86.

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.