S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) Short Interest Up 24.6% in October

S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI - Get Free Report) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,450,000 shares, an increase of 24.6% from the October 15th total of 3,570,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,110,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.0 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of SPGI. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in S&P Global during the first quarter worth $351,774,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in S&P Global by 174,815.4% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 467,024 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $241,274,000 after acquiring an additional 466,757 shares during the period. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new stake in S&P Global during the third quarter worth $224,976,000. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in S&P Global by 6.6% during the third 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 period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in S&P Global by 352.2% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 463,383 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $206,669,000 after acquiring an additional 360,909 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.17% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Raymond James cut S&P Global from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on S&P Global from $540.00 to $560.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on S&P Global from $589.00 to $564.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on S&P Global from $564.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on S&P Global from $550.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $571.31.

S&P Global Stock Down 1.4 %

S&P Global stock traded down $7.35 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $503.29. The stock had a trading volume of 1,132,168 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,209,144. S&P Global has a fifty-two week low of $401.79 and a fifty-two week high of $533.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 0.94. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $510.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $478.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $156.17 billion, a PE ratio of 45.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.18.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The business services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.64 by $0.25. S&P Global had a return on equity of 13.72% and a net margin of 25.80%. The company had revenue of $3.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.43 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.21 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that S&P Global will post 15.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

S&P Global Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th will be issued a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 26th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.72%. S&P Global's dividend payout ratio is presently 32.13%.

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.