Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. Purchases 247 Shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 0.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 77,633 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 247 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $8,700,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in Global Payments in the 4th quarter worth approximately $345,823,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its position 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 worth $929,969,000 after acquiring an additional 1,659,984 shares during the period. Focused Investors LLC acquired a new position in Global Payments during the 4th quarter valued at $99,969,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Global Payments by 1,559.6% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 548,833 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $61,502,000 after purchasing an additional 515,763 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in Global Payments by 22.7% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,646,854 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $271,090,000 after purchasing an additional 490,411 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Global Payments Stock Up 0.6 %

NYSE:GPN opened at $98.09 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $24.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.87, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.97. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $103.51 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $107.25. Global Payments Inc. has a 52-week low of $90.99 and a 52-week high of $133.63.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last issued its quarterly 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). The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.31 billion. Global Payments had a net margin of 15.54% and a return on equity of 12.21%. On average, analysts anticipate that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.18%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on GPN. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Global Payments from $138.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com upgraded Global Payments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Stephens cut Global Payments from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $125.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $122.00 price target (down previously from $155.00) on shares of Global Payments in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $156.00 to $149.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. One 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 MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $134.10.

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.