10 Best Dividend Kings Stocks to Invest in Now

2. S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 85

S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) is an American capital market company that offers services in financial information and analytics. Beyond its other segments, the company has recently emphasized technological innovation by incorporating generative AI and introducing tools like ChatAI. It recently announced the acquisition of ProntoNLP, a prominent provider of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) solutions, which enables users to extract unique insights from both unstructured and structured data. ProntoNLP’s proprietary models and LLM-based signal tools will enhance S&P Global’s capabilities in textual data analytics.

In the third quarter of 2024, S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) reported $3.6 billion in revenue, marking a 16% increase from the same quarter the previous year. The company continues to benefit from consistent cash flow from its data and analytics division, along with its ratings segment. In the first nine months of the year, it has generated almost $4 billion in operating cash flow, up from $2.4 billion during the same period last year.

Montaka Global Investments highlighted S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) in its Q3 2024 investor letter. Here is what the firm has to say:

“Montaka owns several duopolists in the financial services industry, including Visa and Mastercard in payments; and S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) in credit ratings and financial data services. These businesses have competitively protected and reliably growing core businesses. But they also have newer, high-probability adjacent opportunities. The market, however, is underappreciating this powerful combination, in our view.

For S&P Global, we are seeing a cyclical rebound in high-margin credit ratings. At the same the company’s software services businesses are rolling out an expansive pipeline of new AI-enabled product features, powered by S&P Global’s large and unique financial datasets.”

S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI) currently offers a quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.76%, as of January 13. It is one of the best dividend kings on our list as the company has raised its dividends for 52 consecutive years.

At the end of the third quarter of 2024, 85 hedge funds held stakes in S&P Global Inc. (NYSE:SPGI), compared with 90 in the previous quarter, as per Insider Monkey’s database. These stakes are collectively valued at over $9.8 billion.