Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Stock Holdings Decreased by Canada Pension Plan Investment Board

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lessened its position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 22.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 260,611 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 77,621 shares during the quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $29,204,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Global Payments in the fourth quarter valued at $345,823,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Global Payments by 25.0% in the 4th quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 8,298,846 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $929,969,000 after acquiring an additional 1,659,984 shares in the last quarter. Focused Investors LLC purchased a new stake in Global Payments in the 4th quarter worth about $99,969,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Global Payments by 1,559.6% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 548,833 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $61,502,000 after acquiring an additional 515,763 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Global Payments during the 4th quarter valued at about $53,700,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Global Payments Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE GPN opened at $69.50 on Friday. Global Payments Inc. has a 12 month low of $68.48 and a 12 month high of $127.66. The company has a market cap of $17.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.25, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.97. The business’s 50 day moving average is $95.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $104.93. 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 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). Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.21% and a net margin of 15.54%. The company had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.31 billion. On average, equities analysts expect that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Global Payments’s payout ratio is presently 16.18%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on GPN. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Global Payments from $166.00 to $163.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Global Payments from $138.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Stephens cut Global Payments from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $125.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered Global Payments from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $135.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $124.73.

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.