Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 191.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,890 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 13,718 shares during the quarter. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $2,653,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 40.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,346,779 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,078,525,000 after purchasing an additional 2,703,434 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Global Payments during the 4th quarter valued at $261,300,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in Global Payments by 338.3% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,288,108 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $379,416,000 after acquiring an additional 2,537,941 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Global Payments during the 3rd quarter valued at $197,875,000. Finally, Boston Partners raised its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 40.5% during the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,142,771 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $591,613,000 after purchasing an additional 1,481,714 shares during the period. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Global Payments Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of GPN traded up $1.19 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $124.36. The stock had a trading volume of 958,061 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,238,111. Global Payments Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $95.12 and a fifty-two week high of $141.77. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $131.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $124.16. The firm has a market cap of $31.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The business services provider reported $2.65 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.18 billion. Global Payments had a net margin of 10.22% and a return on equity of 11.44%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.30 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 10.94 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The business 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. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.46%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on GPN shares. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Global Payments from $185.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 15th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $138.00 to $137.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Mizuho reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $129.00 target price on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Global Payments from $154.00 to $172.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Global Payments has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $151.92.

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.