MetLife Investment Management LLC Grows Position in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI - Free Report) by 1.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 83,960 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 823 shares during the quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC's holdings in S&P Global were worth $41,815,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SPGI. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of S&P Global during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,725,084,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in S&P Global during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $527,207,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in S&P Global by 71,024.1% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 619,491 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $308,525,000 after acquiring an additional 618,620 shares during the period. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new stake in S&P Global in the 4th quarter worth approximately $144,091,000. Finally, APG Asset Management N.V. lifted its stake in S&P Global by 1,384.4% in the 4th quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 290,500 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $139,718,000 after purchasing an additional 270,930 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.17% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SPGI has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group upped their price target 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on S&P Global from $618.00 to $565.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on S&P Global from $576.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of S&P Global from $633.00 to $607.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of S&P Global in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $600.00 price target for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, S&P Global has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $591.86.

S&P Global Trading Up 0.9 %

S&P Global stock traded up $4.42 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $470.84. The company had a trading volume of 1,232,137 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,239,265. 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 12-month low of $407.69 and a 12-month high of $545.39. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $496.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $503.76. The firm has a market cap of $147.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.26.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI - Get Free Report) last issued 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 period in the prior year, the business earned $3.13 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that S&P Global Inc. will post 17.11 earnings per share for the current year.

S&P Global Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th were issued a dividend of $0.96 per share. This is a positive change from S&P Global's previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. This represents a $3.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 26th. S&P Global's dividend payout ratio is currently 31.09%.

S&P Global Company 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.