Geode Capital Management LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 5.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,230,322 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 301,877 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC owned approximately 2.45% of Global Payments worth $696,362,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GPN. Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 4.4% in the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 3,892 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $399,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its position in shares of Global Payments by 17.0% during the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 11,017 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,128,000 after purchasing an additional 1,600 shares during the last quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH purchased a new stake in Global Payments in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $2,009,000. Hilltop Holdings Inc. acquired a new stake in Global Payments during the 3rd quarter valued at $270,000. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in Global Payments by 22.7% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,646,854 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $271,090,000 after buying an additional 490,411 shares in the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GPN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Stephens lowered Global Payments from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $125.00 to $120.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Bank of America decreased their price target 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. Citigroup cut their price objective 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. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $122.00 price objective (down previously from $155.00) on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Global Payments from $166.00 to $163.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $134.10.

Global Payments Price Performance

GPN opened at $99.75 on Thursday. Global Payments Inc. has a 52-week low of $90.99 and a 52-week high of $129.35. The company has a 50 day moving average of $103.13 and a two-hundred day moving average of $107.11. The company has a market cap of $24.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.14, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.97. 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 (NYSE:GPN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.84 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.98 by ($0.14). Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.21% and a net margin of 15.54%. The business had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.31 billion. On average, analysts expect that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.00%. Global Payments’s payout ratio is currently 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.