Greenleaf Trust Purchases 316 Shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Greenleaf Trust increased its stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 15.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,303 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 316 shares during the quarter. Greenleaf Trust’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $292,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Global Payments by 3.8% in the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,485 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $287,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. grew its position in shares of Global Payments by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 5,409 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $687,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. grew its position in shares of Global Payments by 2.0% in the third quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 4,707 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $543,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital boosted its stake in Global Payments by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 13,740 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,828,000 after buying an additional 98 shares during the period. Finally, KB Financial Partners LLC boosted its stake in Global Payments by 2.9% during the third quarter. KB Financial Partners LLC now owns 4,069 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $470,000 after buying an additional 113 shares during the period. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on GPN. Wedbush lifted their price objective on Global Payments from $130.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Global Payments from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. TheStreet raised Global Payments from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Global Payments from $138.00 to $137.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Global Payments from $154.00 to $172.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Global Payments has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $151.92.

Global Payments Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:GPN opened at $127.47 on Thursday. Global Payments Inc. has a 1 year low of $95.12 and a 1 year high of $141.77. The company has a market cap of $32.52 billion, a PE ratio of 33.72, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $129.64 and its 200 day moving average is $124.58.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last announced 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. Global Payments had a return on equity of 11.44% and a net margin of 10.22%. The company had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.30 EPS. Global Payments’s revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Global Payments Inc. will post 10.94 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.