94,837 Shares in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Acquired by KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 94,837 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $10,627,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Global Payments by 25.0% during the 4th quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 8,298,846 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $929,969,000 after purchasing an additional 1,659,984 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Global Payments by 0.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,928,445 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $605,078,000 after acquiring an additional 31,934 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of Global Payments by 1.5% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,499,729 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $564,437,000 after acquiring an additional 83,481 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 13.4% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,949,458 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $330,516,000 after acquiring an additional 349,457 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 22.7% in 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 acquiring an additional 490,411 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Global Payments from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Global Payments from $135.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Bank of America reduced their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Global Payments from $166.00 to $163.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $122.00 price target (down from $155.00) on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Global Payments presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $134.33.

Global Payments Stock Performance

GPN opened at $99.13 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $104.49 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $107.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.93. The company has a market capitalization of $24.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.04. Global Payments Inc. has a 1-year low of $90.99 and a 1-year high of $136.36.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.84 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 firm had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.31 billion. Research analysts predict that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.01%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.18%.

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.