GAMMA Investing LLC Buys New Stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new position in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,791 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $239,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GPN. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt grew its holdings in Global Payments by 70.4% during the 4th quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 564 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $72,000 after acquiring an additional 233 shares during the period. Waverly Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Global Payments by 60.5% in the third quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 19,593 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,261,000 after purchasing an additional 7,387 shares during the last quarter. Shaker Investments LLC OH acquired a new position in shares of Global Payments in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,815,000. AFS Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Global Payments in the 4th quarter valued at $202,000. Finally, Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. lifted its position in Global Payments by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 19,519 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,479,000 after purchasing an additional 275 shares during the period. 89.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GPN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Mizuho reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $129.00 target price on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Barclays dropped 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. Wedbush upped their target price on Global Payments from $130.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. B. Riley upped their price objective on Global Payments from $180.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Global Payments from $145.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $151.92.

Global Payments Stock Down 2.2 %

Global Payments stock opened at $124.63 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $129.38 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $124.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.96. Global Payments Inc. has a 1-year low of $95.12 and a 1-year high of $141.77.

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

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is 26.46%.

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.