Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC Makes New Investment in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 10,496 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,075,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GPN. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Global Payments by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 6,638,862 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $679,952,000 after acquiring an additional 215,399 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its holdings in Global Payments by 0.3% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,797,677 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $639,967,000 after purchasing an additional 12,196 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of Global Payments by 65.6% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,982,496 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $203,047,000 after purchasing an additional 785,539 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 10.9% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,957,914 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $189,307,000 after buying an additional 193,137 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,541,541 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $157,885,000 after buying an additional 44,296 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Global Payments Price Performance

Shares of Global Payments stock opened at $118.56 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.33, a P/E/G ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.97. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $106.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $103.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. Global Payments Inc. has a 1-year low of $91.60 and a 1-year high of $141.77.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.84%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.83%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GPN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. KeyCorp dropped their target price on shares of Global Payments from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Global Payments from $164.00 to $156.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. BNP Paribas raised Global Payments to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Monness Crespi & Hardt lowered their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $165.00 to $155.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Global Payments from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $136.57.

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.