John Callahan Jr. (Insider Trades), CFO and Executive Vice President of McGraw Hill Financial Inc. (MHFI, Financial), bought 2,000 shares of the company on July 28, 2015. The average price per share was $97.79, for a total transaction of $195,580. McGraw Hill Financial Inc. is a financial intelligence company with 17,000 employees in 30 countries. MHFI’s market cap is $27.79 billion, and P/S ratio is 5.25.
Insider transactions with the company have been mostly sells; MHFI insiders made three buys totaling 4,900 shares, and 21 sells totaling 878,947 shares of the company since July 2013. The earliest insider buy was conducted by MHFI Director Douglas Peterson (Insider Trades) for 2,500 shares of the company for an average price of $60.26 per share. This transaction increased about 60% in price since the purchase in July 2013. The first sell, made by MHFI EVP and General Counsel, Kenneth Vittor (Insider Trades), increased by about 40% since October 2013. Callahan made one transaction with the company of 2,000 shares on July 28, 2015. Lawrence Neal (Insider Trades), president of Platts, a London- based division of McGraw Hill Financial, sold 1,043 shares of MHFI on June 26, 2015. The average price per share was $103.65. Neal sold 13,405 shares of the company in six transactions since May 2014, with the first of these transactions increasing about 20% since then. The number of insider sells increased in the past two years, while the volume of insider sells decreased. There were two insider sells of MHFI in 2013, 10 in 2014, and 9 in the first half of 2015. On the other hand, the volume of McGraw Hill insider sells increased each year from 2013 to 2015. Though there was one less transaction in 2015, the volume of insider sells decreased by 461,677 from 2014 to the first half of 2015. 
For more information about insider trades with McGraw Hill Financial Inc., click here.
Both net income and revenue for McGraw Hill increased from the second quarter of 2014 to the second quarter of 2015. Net income for the company increased 21%, from $292 million or $1.08 per share, to $353 million or $1.29 per share. Revenue increased 3%, from $1.302 billion, to $1.342 billion. Douglas Peterson, president and CEO of McGraw Hill Financial, stated that the company was able to deliver “6% revenue growth” excluding the impact of foreign exchange. Peterson also noted that combining this with “excellent cost control,” the company was able to achieve “significant margin expansion by every business segment” despite “the face of declining oil prices, as well as turbulent global macroeconomic conditions.” Annual revenue for the company has increased 8.64% since 2010. 
The company also announced a dividend of $0.33 per share for shareholders of record on May 27, 2015. The annual dividend for the company increased 6.2% since 2010.
McGraw Hill Financial announced the acquisition of SNL Financial on July 27, 2015. This will cost the company approximately $2.225 billion in cash, but the impact on MHFI will be offset by tax benefits of about $550 million. SNL is a company that runs a subscription-based service working with financial institutions, real estate, energy, media and metals and mining. Peterson stated that “SNL has a stellar management team that has sustained an impressive organic growth rate in the low to mid-teens for more than a decade” and that the purchase will help accelerate the growth of McGraw Hill Financial’s balance sheet. Platts also announced the acquisition of Petromedia, a provider of new and analysis for shipping and oil industries. Andy Bose, Platts general manager, stated that the purchase will extend the company’s coverage of bunker fuel, which accounts for “70% of operational costs for waterborne commodity movement.” According to GuruFocus.com information, this company has a business predictability rank of 1 out of 5 stars. For more information about business predictability rank, click here.
One guru sold out all shares of McGraw Hill Financial in the second half of 2015. Manning & Napier Advisors, Inc. (Trades, Portfolio), purchased 5,948,253 shares of MHFI for an average price per share of $50.22 in the first quarter of 2013. The total estimated gain since their initial purchase is 48%. For more information about guru transactions with McGraw Hill Financial Inc., click here.
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