S&P Global Inc. $SPGI Shares Acquired by First Merchants Corp

First Merchants Corp lifted its holdings in shares of S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) by 19.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,614 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,733 shares during the period. First Merchants Corp’s holdings in S&P Global were worth $8,682,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in S&P Global by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,256,638 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $14,726,208,000 after purchasing an additional 161,719 shares during the period. TCI Fund Management Ltd. increased its stake in S&P Global by 7.0% in the second quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. now owns 11,091,623 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,848,502,000 after purchasing an additional 730,354 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in S&P Global by 4.6% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,231,644 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,033,003,000 after purchasing an additional 274,285 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of S&P Global in the second quarter valued at about $2,188,945,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in shares of S&P Global by 3.2% in the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,202,872 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,072,160,000 after buying an additional 67,868 shares during the last quarter. 87.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on SPGI shares. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $498.00 price target on S&P Global in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on S&P Global from $657.00 to $551.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Robert W. Baird set a $546.00 price objective on S&P Global in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on S&P Global from $675.00 to $530.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Finally, Evercore set a $625.00 target price on S&P Global and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, S&P Global currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $563.53.

S&P Global Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SPGI opened at $407.46 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. S&P Global Inc. has a one year low of $381.61 and a one year high of $579.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $121.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.81, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.23. The company’s fifty day moving average is $455.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $486.93.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The business services provider reported $4.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.32 by ($0.02). S&P Global had a net margin of 29.16% and a return on equity of 16.56%. The company had revenue of $3.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.89 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.77 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. S&P Global has set its FY 2026 guidance at 19.400-19.650 EPS. Analysts forecast that S&P Global Inc. will post 17.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

S&P Global Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 25th were issued a $0.97 dividend. This represents a $3.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. This is a boost from S&P Global’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.96. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 25th. S&P Global’s dividend payout ratio is 26.48%.

S&P Global Company Profile

S&P Global is a leading provider of financial information, analytics and benchmark indices that serve investors, issuers, corporations and public institutions worldwide. The company operates through well-known businesses that include credit ratings, market intelligence and index licensing, as well as commodity and energy information services. Its products and services are used to assess creditworthiness, inform investment decisions, construct and track benchmark portfolios, and support risk and commodity market analysis.

S&P Global Ratings provides independent credit ratings, research and data used by fixed income investors and capital market participants to evaluate issuer and transaction risk.