4,246 Shares in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Purchased by PFG Investments LLC

PFG Investments LLC purchased a new position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 4,246 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $568,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in GPN. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 40.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,346,779 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,078,525,000 after acquiring an additional 2,703,434 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 40.5% in the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,142,771 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $591,613,000 after acquiring an additional 1,481,714 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Global Payments by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,087,801 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $646,151,000 after purchasing an additional 132,635 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,499,860 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $403,849,000 after purchasing an additional 116,664 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of Global Payments by 2.7% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,402,869 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $392,657,000 after buying an additional 89,057 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Global Payments Price Performance

NYSE:GPN traded up $0.11 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $124.68. 2,745,872 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,160,878. Global Payments Inc. has a 52 week low of $95.12 and a 52 week high of $141.77. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $129.00 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $124.86. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The firm has a market cap of $31.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.98, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.96.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The business services provider reported $2.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $0.01. Global Payments had a net margin of 10.22% and a return on equity of 11.44%. The firm had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.18 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.30 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Global Payments Inc. will post 10.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.80%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.46%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on GPN shares. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on Global Payments from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Global Payments from $138.00 to $137.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Mizuho reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $129.00 target price on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Global Payments from $185.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Global Payments from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $151.92.

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.