River Road Asset Management LLC Increases Stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

River Road Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 196.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 228,337 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 151,288 shares during the quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC owned approximately 0.09% of Global Payments worth $28,999,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 10.3% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 6,136 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $840,000 after acquiring an additional 572 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its stake in Global Payments by 7.7% in the 1st quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 3,942 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $539,000 after purchasing an additional 281 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Global Payments by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,288,788 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $176,366,000 after buying an additional 48,605 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its position in shares of Global Payments by 259.7% during the first quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 17,285 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,377,000 after buying an additional 12,479 shares during the period. Finally, Prudential PLC purchased a new stake in shares of Global Payments in the first quarter worth about $766,000. Institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Global Payments Trading Down 0.4 %

NYSE GPN opened at $122.95 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $31.36 billion, a PE ratio of 32.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.96. Global Payments Inc. has a 1-year low of $95.12 and a 1-year high of $141.77. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $130.89 and a 200-day moving average of $124.21. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The business services provider reported $2.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $0.01. Global Payments had a return on equity of 11.44% and a net margin of 10.22%. The firm had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.30 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 10.94 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.46%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on GPN shares. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. B. Riley upped their price target on shares of Global Payments from $180.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Global Payments from $138.00 to $137.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Mizuho restated a “neutral” rating and set a $129.00 target price on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Global Payments from $145.00 to $159.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $151.92.

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.