Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt Acquires 233 Shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt boosted its holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 70.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 564 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 233 shares during the quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $72,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Penserra Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 6.4% during the 1st quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 1,389 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $190,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the period. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Global Payments by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,485 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $287,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the period. Fulton Bank N.A. raised its holdings in Global Payments by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 5,409 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $687,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. raised its holdings in Global Payments by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 4,707 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $543,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares during the period. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital raised its holdings in Global Payments by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 13,740 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,828,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the period. 89.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on GPN. StockNews.com cut Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Barclays decreased their target price on Global Payments from $170.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Global Payments from $138.00 to $137.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Mizuho reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $129.00 price target on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Global Payments from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Global Payments currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $151.92.

Global Payments Price Performance

NYSE GPN opened at $122.13 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $130.33 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $124.23. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. Global Payments Inc. has a 12-month low of $95.12 and a 12-month high of $141.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.31, a P/E/G ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.96.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The business services provider reported $2.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $0.01. The business 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%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.30 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 10.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

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

Global Payments Company 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.