Easterly Investment Partners LLC Takes $3.74 Million Position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Easterly Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 33,334 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $3,735,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GPN. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake 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 during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its stake 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 valued at $929,969,000 after buying an additional 1,659,984 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Global Payments by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,928,445 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $605,078,000 after buying an additional 31,934 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Global Payments by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,499,729 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $564,437,000 after buying an additional 83,481 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Global Payments in the 4th quarter worth $345,823,000. Institutional investors own 89.76% of the company's stock.

Global Payments Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of GPN stock traded down $0.14 on Monday, reaching $97.38. 677,827 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,142,489. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $103.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $107.32. Global Payments Inc. has a 52 week low of $90.99 and a 52 week high of $133.63. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $23.94 billion, a PE ratio of 15.76, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.04.

Remove Ads

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

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Global Payments's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.18%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays dropped their price objective 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. Citigroup dropped their price target on Global Payments from $138.00 to $135.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective 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. Stephens lowered shares of Global Payments from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $125.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Global Payments from $166.00 to $163.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. One 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $134.10.

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.