Van ECK Associates Corp Acquires 14,125 Shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 138.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 24,323 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 14,125 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $3,089,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Investment House LLC boosted its position in Global Payments by 90.7% during the fourth quarter. Investment House LLC now owns 68,669 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $8,721,000 after buying an additional 32,658 shares during the period. Marco Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Global Payments by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Marco Investment Management LLC now owns 51,892 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,590,000 after purchasing an additional 2,345 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $631,000. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC now owns 52,484 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,665,000 after purchasing an additional 738 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stanley Laman Group Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Global Payments by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. now owns 29,842 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,790,000 after buying an additional 1,282 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on GPN. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Global Payments from $163.00 to $155.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. UBS Group boosted their price target on Global Payments from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Global Payments from $145.00 to $159.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on Global Payments from $160.00 to $152.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, B. Riley upped their target price on Global Payments from $180.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $150.00.

Global Payments Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of Global Payments stock opened at $111.09 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $127.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $124.81. Global Payments Inc. has a 52-week low of $95.12 and a 52-week high of $141.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.36 billion, a PE ratio of 22.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.97.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last posted 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. Global Payments had a return on equity of 11.72% and a net margin of 13.40%. The company had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.18 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.30 earnings per share. Global Payments’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Global Payments Inc. will post 10.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.84%.

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.