Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Holdings Raised by Independent Advisor Alliance

Independent Advisor Alliance boosted its stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 9.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,759 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 505 shares during the quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $645,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Atria Investments Inc raised its position in Global Payments by 7.8% during the third quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 9,850 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,009,000 after acquiring an additional 711 shares in the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC raised its position in Global Payments by 1.4% during the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 8,257 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $846,000 after acquiring an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in Global Payments by 5.2% during the third quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 7,015 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $718,000 after acquiring an additional 345 shares in the last quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Global Payments by 93.5% during the third quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 15,582 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,596,000 after acquiring an additional 7,529 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its position in Global Payments by 19.6% during the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 50,848 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,208,000 after acquiring an additional 8,320 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Global Payments Trading Up 2.1 %

Shares of Global Payments stock opened at $94.15 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.31 billion, a PE ratio of 15.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.93. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $106.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $108.16. Global Payments Inc. has a 52-week low of $90.99 and a 52-week high of $136.36.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.98 by ($0.14). Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.21% and a net margin of 15.54%. The company had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.31 billion. On average, analysts expect that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.06%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Global Payments’s payout ratio is 16.18%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on GPN. Citigroup cut their price objective on Global Payments from $138.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Stephens downgraded Global Payments from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $125.00 to $120.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. StockNews.com raised Global Payments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Global Payments from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Global Payments from $166.00 to $163.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $134.33.

Global Payments 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.