SVB Wealth LLC Makes New Investment in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

SVB Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 5,403 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $605,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 65.6% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,982,496 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $203,047,000 after purchasing an additional 785,539 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 1,559.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 515,763 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 22.7% in 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 purchasing an additional 490,411 shares during the last quarter. Soros Fund Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Global Payments in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $47,113,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 925.5% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 417,832 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $42,794,000 after purchasing an additional 377,087 shares during the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. 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 note on Friday, February 14th. Stephens lowered shares of Global Payments from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $125.00 to $120.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. StockNews.com raised shares of Global Payments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Bank of America decreased their price target on Global Payments from $156.00 to $149.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on Global Payments from $138.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. One equities research 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, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.33.

Insider Activity

In other Global Payments news, Director Robert H. B. Baldwin, Jr. purchased 5,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $116.00 per share, with a total value of $672,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 42,738 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,957,608. This represents a 15.70 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.98% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Global Payments Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GPN opened at $102.80 on Tuesday. Global Payments Inc. has a one year low of $91.60 and a one year high of $140.38. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $108.87 and a 200-day moving average of $108.97. The company has a market capitalization of $25.45 billion, a PE ratio of 16.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.01. 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 (NYSE:GPN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.98 by ($0.14). Global Payments had a net margin of 15.54% and a return on equity of 12.21%. The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.31 billion. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.97%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.18%.

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.