Bridgewater Associates LP Increases Stock Position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Bridgewater Associates LP grew its stake in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) by 88.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 892,958 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 419,443 shares during the period. Bridgewater Associates LP owned 0.35% of Global Payments worth $100,065,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Global Payments in the 4th quarter worth about $345,823,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,659,984 shares in the last quarter. Focused Investors LLC bought a new position in shares of Global Payments in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $99,969,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew 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 valued at $61,502,000 after acquiring an additional 515,763 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Global Payments during the 4th quarter worth approximately $53,700,000. 89.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Global Payments from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Stephens cut Global Payments from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $125.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut Global Payments from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and lowered their price target for the company from $135.00 to $78.00 in a report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on 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, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Global Payments from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $124.73.

Global Payments Trading Down 17.4 %

Shares of GPN stock traded down $14.62 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $69.50. The company's stock had a trading volume of 17,553,278 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,313,527. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $96.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $105.09. Global Payments Inc. has a one year low of $68.48 and a one year high of $127.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.25, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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). The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.44%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Global Payments's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.