Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC Acquires 338 Shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 4.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,413 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 338 shares during the quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $941,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 40.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,346,779 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,078,525,000 after purchasing an additional 2,703,434 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its stake in Global Payments by 40.5% in the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,142,771 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $591,613,000 after acquiring an additional 1,481,714 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Global Payments by 3.4% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,499,860 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $403,849,000 after acquiring an additional 116,664 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in shares of Global Payments by 2.7% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,402,869 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $392,657,000 after acquiring an additional 89,057 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 338.3% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,288,108 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $379,416,000 after purchasing an additional 2,537,941 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Global Payments Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE GPN opened at $127.47 on Thursday. Global Payments Inc. has a 12-month low of $95.12 and a 12-month high of $141.77. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $129.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $124.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The stock has a market cap of $32.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.72, a P/E/G ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 0.96.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The business services provider reported $2.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.18 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 11.44% and a net margin of 10.22%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.30 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 10.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.46%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. B. Riley lifted their target price on Global Payments from $180.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Global Payments from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Global Payments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Global Payments from $138.00 to $137.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $151.92.

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.