Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Shares Acquired by Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV

Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its holdings in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN – Get Rating) by 5.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,872 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 523 shares during the quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $980,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GPN. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in Global Payments by 10.3% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 6,136 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $840,000 after buying an additional 572 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its stake in Global Payments by 7.7% during the 1st quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 3,942 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $539,000 after buying an additional 281 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Global Payments by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,288,788 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $176,366,000 after buying an additional 48,605 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its stake in Global Payments by 259.7% during the 1st quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 17,285 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,377,000 after buying an additional 12,479 shares during the period. Finally, Prudential PLC purchased a new stake in Global Payments during the 1st quarter worth $766,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GPN has been the topic of several analyst reports. Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Global Payments from $120.00 to $110.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 4th. 51job reaffirmed a “maintains” rating on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Thursday, May 4th. 92 Resources reissued a “maintains” rating on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Thursday, May 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Global Payments from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $127.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 12th. Finally, Citigroup started coverage on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Friday, April 28th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $136.00 target price for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $146.30.

Insider Transactions at Global Payments

In other news, CAO David M. Sheffield sold 1,562 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.08, for a total value of $176,630.96. Following the completion of 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Global Payments Trading Down 2.0 %

Global Payments stock opened at $101.96 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $103.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $104.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -216.93, a PEG ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 1.00. Global Payments Inc. has a 52-week low of $92.27 and a 52-week high of $136.88.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 1st. The business services provider reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.31 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.01 billion. Global Payments had a negative net margin of 1.58% and a positive return on equity of 10.67%. Global Payments’s revenue was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.97 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Global Payments Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 15th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 14th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is currently -212.76%.

Global Payments Company Profile

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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.