Stephens Inc. AR Purchases 5,866 Shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Stephens Inc. AR raised its stake in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) by 113.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 11,026 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 5,866 shares during the quarter. Stephens Inc. AR's holdings in Global Payments were worth $1,236,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in GPN. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $203,047,000 after acquiring an additional 785,539 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Global Payments by 1,559.6% in 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 buying an additional 515,763 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in shares of Global Payments by 22.7% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,646,854 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $271,090,000 after buying an additional 490,411 shares in the last quarter. Soros Fund Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Global Payments in the third quarter valued at $47,113,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in shares of Global Payments by 925.5% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 417,832 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $42,794,000 after buying an additional 377,087 shares in the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GPN has been the subject of a number of research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Global Payments from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Barclays raised their target price on Global Payments from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Stephens lowered Global Payments from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and lowered their target price for the company from $125.00 to $120.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Global Payments from $143.00 to $130.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Global Payments from $118.00 to $115.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $135.76.

Global Payments Trading Up 1.5 %

GPN traded up $1.54 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $105.67. 1,975,846 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,514,933. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.93. Global Payments Inc. has a one year low of $91.60 and a one year high of $141.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.90, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 1.01. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $110.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $108.60.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.84 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.98 by ($0.14). Global Payments had a net margin of 13.61% and a return on equity of 11.94%. The business had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.31 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Global Payments's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.83%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Robert H. B. Baldwin, Jr. bought 5,800 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $116.00 per share, for a total transaction of $672,800.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 42,738 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,957,608. The trade was a 15.70 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.98% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.