Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Lowers Holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP reduced its position in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,906,364 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 17,218 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $213,615,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Global Payments during the fourth quarter worth about $345,823,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 25.0% during the fourth quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 8,298,846 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $929,969,000 after purchasing an additional 1,659,984 shares in the last quarter. Focused Investors LLC bought a new position in shares of Global Payments in the fourth quarter worth approximately $99,969,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of Global Payments by 1,559.6% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 548,833 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $61,502,000 after purchasing an additional 515,763 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Global Payments in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $53,700,000. Institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Global Payments Price Performance

GPN opened at $71.39 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.55 billion, a PE ratio of 11.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.97. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $94.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $104.52. Global Payments Inc. has a 52-week low of $65.93 and a 52-week high of $127.66.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 15.54% and a return on equity of 12.21%. The company had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.31 billion. On average, equities research analysts predict that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.40%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.18%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on GPN. Evercore ISI began coverage on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued an “in-line” rating and a $85.00 price target for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $122.00 target price (down previously from $155.00) on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Barclays dropped their price target on Global Payments from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered Global Payments from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $135.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Global Payments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $117.36.

Global Payments 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.