Clearbridge Investments LLC Grows Position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 35.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 995,487 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 258,179 shares during the quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC owned about 0.39% of Global Payments worth $111,554,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tidal Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Global Payments by 0.3% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 26,946 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,760,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. Sage Capital Advisors llc increased its position in Global Payments by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Sage Capital Advisors llc now owns 28,232 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,164,000 after buying an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp boosted its holdings in Global Payments by 4.1% in the third quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp now owns 2,440 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $250,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA grew its stake in shares of Global Payments by 11.2% in the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 992 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $111,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Truvestments Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Global Payments by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 3,685 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $413,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Global Payments Stock Performance

NYSE:GPN opened at $98.09 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $103.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $107.25. 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 52-week low of $90.99 and a 52-week high of $133.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.12 billion, a PE ratio of 15.87, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.04.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last released 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). Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.21% and a net margin of 15.54%. The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.31 billion. Analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors 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 1.02%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.18%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on GPN. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $122.00 price target (down previously from $155.00) on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Global Payments from $156.00 to $149.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of Global Payments from $140.00 to $135.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. StockNews.com raised Global Payments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Stephens lowered Global Payments from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $125.00 to $120.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $134.10.

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.