Asset Management One Co. Ltd. Increases Stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 99,993 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,603 shares during the quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $10,241,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GPN. Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Global Payments by 194.2% in the 2nd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 6,423,463 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $621,149,000 after buying an additional 4,240,388 shares during the period. Boston Partners increased its stake in Global Payments by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,797,677 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $639,967,000 after buying an additional 12,196 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Global Payments by 10.9% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,957,914 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $189,307,000 after buying an additional 193,137 shares during the period. Davis Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in Global Payments by 18.2% during the 2nd quarter. Davis Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,300,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $125,710,000 after acquiring an additional 200,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Global Payments by 188.1% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,157,728 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $109,857,000 after acquiring an additional 755,898 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Global Payments Stock Performance

GPN opened at $111.92 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.48 billion, a PE ratio of 21.08, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.97. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $104.58 and a two-hundred day moving average of $103.83. Global Payments Inc. has a 12-month low of $91.60 and a 12-month high of $141.77.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The business services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.32 billion. Global Payments had a net margin of 13.61% and a return on equity of 11.94%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.48 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.04 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.83%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on GPN shares. William Blair cut shares of Global Payments from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Global Payments from $164.00 to $156.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. BTIG Research cut shares of Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Global Payments to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of Global Payments in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $136.50.

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.