Independent Advisor Alliance Acquires 505 Shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Independent Advisor Alliance lifted its holdings in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 9.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 5,759 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 505 shares during the period. Independent Advisor Alliance’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $645,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in GPN. Atria Investments Inc grew its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 7.8% during the third quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 9,850 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,009,000 after purchasing an additional 711 shares during the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC boosted its position in Global Payments by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 8,257 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $846,000 after buying an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Global Payments by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 7,015 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $718,000 after buying an additional 345 shares during the last quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Global Payments by 93.5% in the 3rd quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 15,582 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,596,000 after buying an additional 7,529 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its position in Global Payments by 19.6% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 50,848 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,208,000 after buying an additional 8,320 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Global Payments Stock Performance

Shares of Global Payments stock opened at $94.15 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $23.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.04. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $106.05 and its 200-day moving average is $108.16. Global Payments Inc. has a one year low of $90.99 and a one year high of $136.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.93.

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

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.06%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.18%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on GPN. Bank of America decreased their price objective on Global Payments from $156.00 to $149.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Global Payments from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $166.00 to $163.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Stephens cut shares of Global Payments from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $125.00 to $120.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $135.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $134.33.

About Global Payments

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.