International Assets Investment Management LLC Buys New Holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 21,844 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,774,000.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Global Payments by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,819,457 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,138,638,000 after acquiring an additional 134,403 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Global Payments by 40.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,346,779 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,078,525,000 after acquiring an additional 2,703,434 shares during the period. Boston Partners raised its holdings in Global Payments by 40.5% in the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,142,771 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $591,613,000 after acquiring an additional 1,481,714 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in Global Payments by 24.8% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,518,268 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $370,263,000 after acquiring an additional 698,913 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Global Payments by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,499,860 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $403,849,000 after acquiring an additional 116,664 shares during the period. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on GPN shares. Wedbush raised their target price on shares of Global Payments from $130.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Global Payments from $145.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Global Payments from $185.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 15th. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Global Payments from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $138.00 to $137.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Global Payments currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $151.92.

Global Payments Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GPN opened at $122.16 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $31.16 billion, a PE ratio of 32.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.96. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $130.61 and its 200-day moving average is $124.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99. Global Payments Inc. has a 52 week low of $95.12 and a 52 week high of $141.77.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The business services provider reported $2.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.18 billion. Global Payments had a net margin of 10.22% and a return on equity of 11.44%. Global Payments’s revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.30 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Global Payments Inc. will post 10.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.46%.

Global Payments Profile

Global Payments Inc provides payment technology and software solutions for card, check, and digital-based payments in the Americas, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific. It operates through two segments, Merchant Solutions and Issuer Solutions. The Merchant Solutions segment offers authorization, settlement and funding, customer support, chargeback resolution, terminal rental, sales and deployment, payment security, and consolidated billing and reporting services.