Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Shares Bought by Townsquare Capital LLC

Townsquare Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 9.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,249 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 357 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $476,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GPN. Virtu Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Global Payments by 79.4% during the 3rd quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 32,107 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,288,000 after acquiring an additional 14,212 shares during the period. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Global Payments by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,315 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $544,000 after purchasing an additional 280 shares in the last quarter. Boyar Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Global Payments by 22.4% during the third quarter. Boyar Asset Management Inc. now owns 8,329 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $853,000 after purchasing an additional 1,525 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Global Payments by 4.4% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 9,718 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $995,000 after purchasing an additional 411 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB increased its position in shares of Global Payments by 24.3% in the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 44,394 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,547,000 after buying an additional 8,677 shares in the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Global Payments Stock Down 17.4 %

Shares of Global Payments stock opened at $69.50 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $95.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $104.97. The stock has a market cap of $17.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. Global Payments Inc. has a twelve month low of $68.48 and a twelve month high of $127.66.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.84 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.98 by ($0.14). The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.31 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.21% and a net margin of 15.54%. Equities research analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Global Payments’s payout ratio is 16.18%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on GPN. Williams Trading set a $75.00 target price on shares of Global Payments in a report on Friday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered Global Payments from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $135.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Thursday. Barclays cut their price target on Global Payments from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Global Payments from $138.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Global Payments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $124.73.

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.