Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Shares Acquired by Russell Investments Group Ltd.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) by 56.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,117,669 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 402,172 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned approximately 0.44% of Global Payments worth $125,230,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in GPN. Townsquare Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Global Payments by 4.4% in the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 3,892 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $399,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its stake in Global Payments by 17.0% during the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 11,017 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,128,000 after buying an additional 1,600 shares during the last quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. bought a new position in shares of Global Payments during the 3rd quarter valued at $270,000. Investment Management Corp of Ontario boosted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 46.7% in the 3rd quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario now owns 8,480 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $869,000 after buying an additional 2,700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC bought a new stake in shares of Global Payments in the third quarter worth $209,000. 89.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $156.00 to $149.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on Global Payments from $140.00 to $135.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 31st. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Global Payments from $138.00 to $135.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Wednesday. They issued an "in-line" rating and a $85.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on Global Payments from $135.00 to $125.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $130.52.

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Global Payments Stock Performance

NYSE:GPN traded down $6.52 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $83.75. 1,749,413 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,221,931. The company's 50 day moving average price is $99.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $105.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.44, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.97. Global Payments Inc. has a 52-week low of $77.83 and a 52-week high of $127.66. 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 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). 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.31 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.19%. Global Payments's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.