DRW Securities LLC Raises Position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

DRW Securities LLC lifted its position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) by 616.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 34,420 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 29,615 shares during the period. DRW Securities LLC's holdings in Global Payments were worth $3,857,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Global Payments by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,995,107 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $2,800,952,000 after purchasing an additional 179,195 shares in the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Global Payments by 25.0% during the fourth quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 8,298,846 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $929,969,000 after purchasing an additional 1,659,984 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Global Payments by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,230,322 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $696,362,000 after acquiring an additional 301,877 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Global Payments by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,499,729 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $564,437,000 after purchasing an additional 83,481 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Global Payments during the fourth quarter worth approximately $345,823,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company's stock.

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Global Payments Stock Down 0.6 %

GPN traded down $0.47 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $84.49. 499,204 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,235,915. The company has a market cap of $20.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.97. 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 Inc. has a one year low of $77.83 and a one year high of $127.66. The company's fifty day moving average price is $98.59 and its 200 day moving average price is $105.71.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.98 by ($0.14). Global Payments had a net margin of 15.54% and a return on equity of 12.21%. The business had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.31 billion. As a group, analysts expect that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on GPN. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $140.00 to $135.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 31st. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Global Payments from $138.00 to $135.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Barclays cut their target price on Global Payments from $135.00 to $125.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Global Payments from $166.00 to $163.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $122.00 price objective (down from $155.00) on shares of Global Payments in a report on Thursday, January 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $130.52.

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.