Swiss National Bank Has $103.25 Million Stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Swiss National Bank lowered its holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 3.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 812,951 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 29,700 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned 0.31% of Global Payments worth $103,245,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GPN. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Global Payments by 40.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,346,779 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,078,525,000 after buying an additional 2,703,434 shares during the period. Boston Partners lifted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 40.5% during the third 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. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 116,664 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,402,869 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $392,657,000 after purchasing an additional 89,057 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 338.3% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,288,108 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $379,416,000 after purchasing an additional 2,537,941 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays cut their price target on Global Payments from $160.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. TheStreet raised shares of Global Payments from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $182.00 to $150.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group increased their price objective on Global Payments from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their target price on Global Payments from $185.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $150.00.

Global Payments Stock Up 0.8 %

NYSE:GPN opened at $111.37 on Friday. Global Payments Inc. has a twelve month low of $95.12 and a twelve month high of $141.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $127.50 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $124.69.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The business services provider reported $2.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.18 billion. Global Payments had a net margin of 13.40% and a return on equity of 11.72%. Global Payments’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.30 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Global Payments Inc. will post 10.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. Global Payments’s payout ratio is 19.84%.

About Global Payments

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.