Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Has $2.25 Million Holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. trimmed its stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 3.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 20,092 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 776 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $2,252,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE increased its stake in Global Payments by 24.0% during the fourth quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 2,890 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $324,000 after acquiring an additional 560 shares during the period. Mill Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the 4th quarter worth approximately $205,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Global Payments by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,995,107 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,800,952,000 after purchasing an additional 179,195 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Global Payments by 34.6% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 126,430 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $14,168,000 after purchasing an additional 32,498 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Focused Investors LLC bought a new position in Global Payments in the fourth quarter worth $99,969,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GPN has been the topic of several analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Global Payments from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Stephens cut shares of Global Payments from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $125.00 to $120.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $122.00 target price (down from $155.00) on shares of Global Payments in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Barclays lowered their price target on Global Payments from $135.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Global Payments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Global Payments presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $134.33.

Global Payments Stock Down 0.2 %

NYSE:GPN opened at $98.82 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. Global Payments Inc. has a 12-month low of $90.99 and a 12-month high of $136.36. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $104.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $107.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.99, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.04.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.98 by ($0.14). The company 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 expect that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.01%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.18%.

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.