Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. Raises Stock Position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 5.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 679,889 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 34,157 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $86,346,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GPN. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Global Payments by 40.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,346,779 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,078,525,000 after buying an additional 2,703,434 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the 4th quarter worth approximately $261,300,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Global Payments by 338.3% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,288,108 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $379,416,000 after buying an additional 2,537,941 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $197,875,000. Finally, Boston Partners lifted its position in shares of Global Payments by 40.5% during the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,142,771 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $591,613,000 after buying an additional 1,481,714 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on GPN shares. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $138.00 to $137.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Global Payments from $170.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Wedbush upped their price target on shares of Global Payments from $130.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Global Payments from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $151.92.

Global Payments Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GPN opened at $122.95 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $31.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.53, a PEG ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.96. Global Payments Inc. has a 52 week low of $95.12 and a 52 week high of $141.77. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $130.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $124.21. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67.

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

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.81%. Global Payments’s payout ratio is 26.46%.

About Global Payments

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.