Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Buys 420,739 Shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 50.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,256,238 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 420,739 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership owned about 0.49% of Global Payments worth $140,774,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of GPN. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 26.7% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 23,136 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,370,000 after buying an additional 4,874 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 4.4% in the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 3,892 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $399,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Global Payments in the third quarter worth about $323,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its holdings in Global Payments by 11.2% during the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 113,799 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $11,655,000 after acquiring an additional 11,430 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its holdings in Global Payments by 17.0% during the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 11,017 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,128,000 after acquiring an additional 1,600 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Global Payments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Bank of America lowered their target price on Global Payments from $156.00 to $149.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 14th. 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 report on Thursday, January 9th. Stephens lowered Global Payments from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $125.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on Global Payments from $138.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $134.33.

Global Payments Stock Performance

Shares of GPN opened at $97.55 on Monday. 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 50-day moving average of $103.72 and a two-hundred day moving average of $107.32. The stock has a market cap of $23.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.79, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.04. Global Payments Inc. has a one year low of $90.99 and a one year high of $133.63.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last released its earnings results 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.31 billion. As a group, research analysts predict that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.03%. Global Payments’s payout ratio is currently 16.18%.

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.