Exchange Traded Concepts LLC Increases Holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 45.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 695 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 218 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $68,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of GPN. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Global Payments by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,995,107 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,800,952,000 after buying an additional 179,195 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Global Payments by 25.0% in the fourth quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 8,298,846 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $929,969,000 after acquiring an additional 1,659,984 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Global Payments by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,230,322 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $696,362,000 after acquiring an additional 301,877 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Global Payments during the fourth quarter valued at $345,823,000. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,906,444 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $325,698,000 after purchasing an additional 259,590 shares in the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Global Payments Price Performance

Shares of GPN stock opened at $79.01 on Wednesday. Global Payments Inc. has a 52-week low of $65.93 and a 52-week high of $120.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 0.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.74, a P/E/G ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.93. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $76.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $94.62.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The business services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.73 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $2.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.20 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.33% and a net margin of 15.48%. Global Payments’s quarterly revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.59 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.27%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.13%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GPN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. KeyCorp upped their price target on Global Payments from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Global Payments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Global Payments from $105.00 to $77.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Wolfe Research reiterated a “peer perform” rating on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $75.00 price target for the company. in a report on Friday, April 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eighteen have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Global Payments presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $110.91.

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.