Townsquare Capital LLC Purchases 4,089 Shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Townsquare Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 24.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 20,878 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,089 shares during the quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $10,398,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of S&P Global by 52.0% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 658,766 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $328,632,000 after purchasing an additional 225,370 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its position in S&P Global by 12.6% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 27,598 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $14,198,000 after buying an additional 3,093 shares during the last quarter. Eastern Bank raised its holdings in S&P Global by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 50,157 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $24,980,000 after buying an additional 1,530 shares in the last quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC lifted its position in shares of S&P Global by 19.1% in the fourth quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 37,746 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $18,799,000 after buying an additional 6,051 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new stake in shares of S&P Global during the 3rd quarter worth about $27,170,000. 87.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on SPGI. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on S&P Global from $617.00 to $633.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Mizuho started coverage on shares of S&P Global in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $599.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of S&P Global from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Citigroup began coverage on shares of S&P Global in a report on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $600.00 target price on the stock. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of S&P Global from $576.00 to $590.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $595.14.

S&P Global Stock Up 1.6 %

NYSE SPGI opened at $465.14 on Friday. S&P Global Inc. has a twelve month low of $407.69 and a twelve month high of $545.39. The stock has a market cap of $145.98 billion, a PE ratio of 37.66, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.26. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $504.81 and a 200 day simple moving average of $506.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The business services provider reported $3.77 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 in the prior year, the company posted $3.13 earnings per share. On average, research 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th were issued a $0.96 dividend. This represents a $3.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 26th. This is a positive change from S&P Global’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. S&P Global’s payout ratio is 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.