Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Shares Acquired by NEOS Investment Management LLC

NEOS Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 31.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,598 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,733 shares during the quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $1,748,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Global Payments by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,995,107 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,800,952,000 after acquiring an additional 179,195 shares in the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Global Payments by 25.0% during the fourth quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 8,298,846 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $929,969,000 after purchasing an additional 1,659,984 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Global Payments by 0.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,928,445 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $605,078,000 after purchasing an additional 31,934 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in Global Payments by 1.5% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,499,729 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $564,437,000 after buying an additional 83,481 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in Global Payments by 13.4% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,949,458 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $330,516,000 after buying an additional 349,457 shares in the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Global Payments Stock Performance

Shares of GPN opened at $97.55 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.79, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.97. Global Payments Inc. has a 1 year low of $90.99 and a 1 year high of $133.63. The company’s fifty day moving average is $103.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $107.34.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.84 earnings per share (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%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.18%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Global Payments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Global Payments from $166.00 to $163.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Stephens downgraded shares of Global Payments from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $125.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of 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, Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Global Payments from $138.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.33.

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.