7,686 Shares in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Bought by Allstate Corp

Allstate Corp acquired a new position in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 7,686 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $861,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Global Payments by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,995,107 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $2,800,952,000 after acquiring an additional 179,195 shares in the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Global Payments by 25.0% in the fourth quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 8,298,846 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $929,969,000 after purchasing an additional 1,659,984 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Global Payments by 0.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,928,445 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $605,078,000 after buying an additional 31,934 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in Global Payments by 1.5% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,499,729 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $564,437,000 after buying an additional 83,481 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Global Payments during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $345,823,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company's stock.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GPN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $122.00 price target (down from $155.00) on shares of Global Payments in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Global Payments from $138.00 to $135.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of Global Payments from $140.00 to $135.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $135.00 to $125.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Stephens cut shares of Global Payments from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and cut their target price for the stock from $125.00 to $120.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Global Payments presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $134.10.

Global Payments Price Performance

NYSE:GPN traded down $8.16 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $84.82. 6,326,947 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,180,256. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $102.35 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $106.79. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The company has a market capitalization of $20.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.72, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.97. Global Payments Inc. has a one year low of $84.50 and a one year high of $129.35.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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). Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.21% and a net margin of 15.54%. The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.31 billion. Sell-side analysts predict that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.18%. Global Payments's payout ratio is currently 16.18%.

Global Payments Company 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.