Confluence Wealth Services Inc. Has $945,000 Position in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Confluence Wealth Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 27.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,222 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 485 shares during the quarter. Confluence Wealth Services Inc.’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $945,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of SPGI. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of S&P Global in the 4th quarter valued at $1,652,862,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of S&P Global by 13.2% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,579,943 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,769,787,000 after purchasing an additional 881,215 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of S&P Global by 12.6% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 5,502,039 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,423,762,000 after acquiring an additional 616,732 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of S&P Global by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,658,865 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,067,807,000 after acquiring an additional 428,737 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of S&P Global by 1,750.0% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 428,390 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $156,538,000 after acquiring an additional 405,234 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.17% of the company’s stock.

S&P Global Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of SPGI stock traded up $0.52 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $415.83. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,954,106 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,373,341. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $423.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $418.78. S&P Global Inc. has a 52 week low of $340.49 and a 52 week high of $461.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.92. The company has a market cap of $130.11 billion, a PE ratio of 46.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.15.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The business services provider reported $4.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.68 by $0.33. S&P Global had a return on equity of 12.20% and a net margin of 22.01%. The firm had revenue of $3.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.39 billion. As a group, equities research analysts expect that S&P Global Inc. will post 14.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

S&P Global Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 29th will be given a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.88%. S&P Global’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.81%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on SPGI. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on S&P Global from $442.00 to $446.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Erste Group Bank reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of S&P Global in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Oppenheimer increased their price target on S&P Global from $480.00 to $482.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Raymond James increased their price target on S&P Global from $422.00 to $452.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of S&P Global in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $462.60.

Insider Transactions at S&P Global

In other news, CEO Douglas L. Peterson sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $424.74, for a total value of $2,548,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 162,530 shares in the company, valued at approximately $69,032,992.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

S&P Global Company Profile

S&P Global Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides credit ratings, benchmarks, analytics, and workflow solutions in the global capital, commodity, and automotive markets. It operates through S&P Global Market Intelligence, S&P Global Ratings, S&P Global Commodity Insights, S&P Global Mobility, S&P Dow Jones Indices, and S&P Global Engineering Solutions segments.