Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Lowers Stake in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. reduced its stake in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 17.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 127,161 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 27,084 shares during the period. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $63,330,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. First Personal Financial Services bought a new position in S&P Global in the third quarter worth approximately $29,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in shares of S&P Global in the 3rd quarter worth $31,000. Human Investing LLC bought a new position in shares of S&P Global during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Noble Wealth Management PBC purchased a new position in shares of S&P Global during the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Dunhill Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of S&P Global by 94.4% in the third quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 70 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. 87.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on SPGI. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of S&P Global from $595.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of S&P Global from $576.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. 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. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on S&P Global from $617.00 to $633.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, StockNews.com cut S&P Global from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $590.23.

S&P Global Stock Down 3.3 %

Shares of SPGI stock opened at $497.35 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $515.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $511.68. S&P Global Inc. has a 1-year low of $407.69 and a 1-year high of $545.39. The company has a market cap of $153.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.20. 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 (NYSE:SPGI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The business services provider reported $3.77 earnings per share 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 quarter last year, the business earned $3.13 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that S&P Global Inc. will post 17.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

S&P Global Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th will be issued a $0.96 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 26th. This represents a $3.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.77%. This is a boost from S&P Global’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. S&P Global’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.