Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Shares Bought by Stonegate Investment Group LLC

Stonegate Investment Group LLC increased its position in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 3.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 28,997 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 836 shares during the period. Stonegate Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $3,876,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Global Payments during the 4th quarter worth about $365,933,000. FMR LLC raised its stake in Global Payments by 40.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,346,779 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,078,525,000 after acquiring an additional 2,703,434 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in Global Payments by 338.3% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,288,108 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $379,416,000 after acquiring an additional 2,537,941 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Global Payments in the third quarter valued at $197,875,000. Finally, Boston Partners boosted its stake in Global Payments by 40.5% in the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,142,771 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $591,613,000 after acquiring an additional 1,481,714 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Global Payments Price Performance

GPN traded down $1.91 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $122.77. 2,616,374 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,166,954. Global Payments Inc. has a 1 year low of $95.12 and a 1 year high of $141.77. The company has a market capitalization of $31.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.48, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $128.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $124.93.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The business services provider reported $2.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.18 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 11.44% and a net margin of 10.22%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.30 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Global Payments Inc. will post 10.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.81%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.46%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GPN has been the subject of several research reports. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Global Payments from $138.00 to $137.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 15th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Susquehanna upped their target price on shares of Global Payments from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Global Payments from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on Global Payments from $170.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Global Payments currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $151.92.

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.