Focused Investors LLC Acquires Shares of 892,100 Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Focused Investors LLC bought a new position in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund bought 892,100 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $99,969,000. Global Payments comprises approximately 3.2% of Focused Investors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position. Focused Investors LLC owned approximately 0.35% of Global Payments at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GPN. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 worth $929,969,000 after acquiring an additional 1,659,984 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in Global Payments by 65.6% during the third 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. raised its stake in Global Payments by 1,559.6% during the fourth 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 period. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in 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 valued at $271,090,000 after purchasing an additional 490,411 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Global Payments in the 4th quarter valued at about $53,700,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company's stock.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on GPN. Bank of America decreased their price target on Global Payments from $156.00 to $149.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Global Payments from $138.00 to $135.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com raised shares of Global Payments from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. 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, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "neutral" rating and set a $122.00 price target (down from $155.00) on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $134.33.

Global Payments Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of GPN traded down $0.19 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $98.82. The stock had a trading volume of 2,105,604 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,079,843. The company has a market cap of $24.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.99, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.04. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $104.49 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $107.61. Global Payments Inc. has a 1-year low of $90.99 and a 1-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 - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.84 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.98 by ($0.14). The business had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.31 billion. Global Payments had a net margin of 15.54% and a return on equity of 12.21%. Equities research analysts expect that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Global Payments's payout ratio is 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.