Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Has $727,000 Holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. grew its holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 2.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 6,484 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 173 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $727,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GPN. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Global Payments by 25.0% during the 4th quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 8,298,846 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $929,969,000 after purchasing an additional 1,659,984 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of Global Payments by 65.6% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,982,496 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $203,047,000 after purchasing an additional 785,539 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 1,559.6% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 548,833 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $61,502,000 after buying an additional 515,763 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 22.7% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,646,854 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $271,090,000 after buying an additional 490,411 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Global Payments in the 4th quarter valued at about $53,700,000. 89.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GPN shares. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $122.00 price objective (down previously from $155.00) on shares of Global Payments in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Global Payments from $138.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Barclays dropped their target price on Global Payments from $135.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Global Payments from $166.00 to $163.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Stephens lowered shares of Global Payments from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $125.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $134.33.

Global Payments Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of GPN opened at $97.03 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.97. Global Payments Inc. has a 52-week low of $90.99 and a 52-week high of $136.36. The firm has a market cap of $23.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.70, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.04. The business’s fifty day moving average is $104.65 and its 200-day moving average is $107.71.

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

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.03%. Global Payments’s payout ratio is presently 16.18%.

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.