Newman Dignan & Sheerar Inc. Takes $204,000 Position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Newman Dignan & Sheerar Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 1,824 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $204,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Global Payments by 177.5% during the 4th quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 469 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Global Payments by 20.7% during the 4th quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 5,467 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $613,000 after acquiring an additional 937 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of Global Payments by 892.3% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 404,326 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $45,309,000 after acquiring an additional 363,581 shares during the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System lifted its position in shares of Global Payments by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 242,887 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $27,218,000 after acquiring an additional 1,725 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Consolidated Planning Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the 4th quarter valued at $205,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Global Payments Trading Up 1.5 %

Global Payments stock opened at $105.67 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.93. The company has a market capitalization of $26.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.90, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 1.01. Global Payments Inc. has a one year low of $91.60 and a one year high of $141.77. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $110.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $108.56.

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 business had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.31 billion. Global Payments had a net margin of 13.61% and a return on equity of 11.94%. On average, analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.83%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Robert H. B. Baldwin, Jr. bought 5,800 shares of Global Payments stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $116.00 per share, for a total transaction of $672,800.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 42,738 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,957,608. This represents a 15.70 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.98% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on GPN shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Global Payments from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Global Payments from $118.00 to $115.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Bank of America reduced their target price on Global Payments from $156.00 to $149.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered Global Payments from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $135.00 to $112.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Global Payments from $166.00 to $163.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday. One equities 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Global Payments has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $135.76.

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.