Stifel Financial Corp Increases Stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Stifel Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 215,277 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 10,694 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp owned about 0.08% of Global Payments worth $22,049,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Stanley Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Global Payments by 18.9% in the 2nd quarter. Stanley Capital Management LLC now owns 125,608 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $12,146,000 after purchasing an additional 20,000 shares during the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of Global Payments during the third quarter valued at $562,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake 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 last quarter. Gradient Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Global Payments by 20.6% during the second quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 172,939 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $16,723,000 after acquiring an additional 29,503 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Poplar Forest Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Global Payments during the third quarter valued at $13,184,000. Institutional investors own 89.76% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. KeyCorp dropped their price target on shares of Global Payments from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Susquehanna reiterated a "positive" rating and set a $147.00 price objective on shares of Global Payments in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. StockNews.com raised shares of Global Payments from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $130.00 to $120.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Global Payments from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $135.00 to $112.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $137.41.

Global Payments Trading Down 0.9 %

NYSE GPN traded down $1.04 during trading on Monday, hitting $116.79. The company had a trading volume of 1,747,960 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,274,919. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. Global Payments Inc. has a one year low of $91.60 and a one year high of $141.77. The company has a market cap of $29.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.00. The company's fifty day moving average is $108.10 and its 200-day moving average is $104.10.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Global Payments's dividend payout ratio is presently 18.83%.

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.