National Pension Service Increases Holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

National Pension Service lifted its position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN – Get Rating) by 0.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 503,550 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,055 shares during the period. National Pension Service owned 0.19% of Global Payments worth $55,159,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of GPN. Echo Street Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 79.6% in the third quarter. Echo Street Capital Management LLC now owns 2,676,292 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $289,173,000 after purchasing an additional 1,186,038 shares during the period. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 338.8% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,220,722 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $131,898,000 after purchasing an additional 942,525 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 6.1% in the second quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 16,156,040 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,787,504,000 after purchasing an additional 923,414 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 14.6% in the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,487,978 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $607,190,000 after purchasing an additional 700,783 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 4,065.7% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 620,106 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $67,002,000 after purchasing an additional 605,220 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.58% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Global Payments news, CAO David M. Sheffield sold 1,562 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.08, for a total transaction of $176,630.96. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 28,032 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,169,858.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.19% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Global Payments Price Performance

NYSE GPN opened at $99.48 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $110.63 and its 200 day moving average price is $109.66. Global Payments Inc. has a 1 year low of $92.27 and a 1 year high of $146.71. The company has a market cap of $26.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 226.09, a PEG ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.00.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 10th. The business services provider reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.34 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $2.25 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.02 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 10.30% and a net margin of 1.24%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.03 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 9.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 17th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 16th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is currently 227.27%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on GPN shares. Wolfe Research lowered their target price on Global Payments from $150.00 to $145.00 in a report on Thursday, January 5th. StockNews.com started coverage on Global Payments in a report on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $135.00 target price on shares of Global Payments in a report on Monday, February 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on Global Payments from $188.00 to $155.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 20th. Finally, BNP Paribas lowered Global Payments from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $149.31.

About Global Payments

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Global Payments, Inc engages in the provision of payment technology and software solutions. It operates through the following segments: Merchant Solutions, Issuer Solutions and Business & Consumer Solutions. The Merchant Solutions segment provides payments technology and software solutions to customers globally.