abrdn plc Acquires 44,723 Shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

abrdn plc raised its holdings in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 69.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 109,235 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 44,723 shares during the period. abrdn plc’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $13,873,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Greenleaf Trust increased its position in shares of Global Payments by 15.9% during the fourth quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 2,303 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $292,000 after purchasing an additional 316 shares in the last quarter. KFG Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Global Payments during the fourth quarter worth $225,000. Xponance Inc. increased its position in shares of Global Payments by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 32,774 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,162,000 after purchasing an additional 347 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in shares of Global Payments by 25.7% during the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 112,996 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $14,350,000 after purchasing an additional 23,105 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt increased its position in shares of Global Payments by 70.4% during the fourth quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 564 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $72,000 after purchasing an additional 233 shares in the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. B. Riley upped their target price on Global Payments from $180.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. KeyCorp upped their target price on Global Payments from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Evercore ISI cut their target price on Global Payments from $185.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. 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. Finally, 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $151.92.

Global Payments Stock Down 2.2 %

GPN stock opened at $124.63 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $31.79 billion, a PE ratio of 32.97, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $129.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $124.58. Global Payments Inc. has a one year low of $95.12 and a one year high of $141.77.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The business services provider reported $2.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.18 billion. Global Payments had a net margin of 10.22% and a return on equity of 11.44%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.30 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Global Payments Inc. will post 10.94 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Global Payments’s 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.