Bank of New York Mellon Corp Boosts Position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,637,637 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 9,984 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $183,514,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of Global Payments by 65.6% during the 3rd 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 purchasing an additional 785,539 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in Global Payments by 1,559.6% during 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 during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in Global Payments by 22.7% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,646,854 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $271,090,000 after buying an additional 490,411 shares in the last quarter. Soros Fund Management LLC bought a new position in Global Payments in the 3rd quarter worth about $47,113,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 925.5% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 417,832 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $42,794,000 after acquiring an additional 377,087 shares in the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GPN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Global Payments from $156.00 to $149.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Global Payments from $166.00 to $163.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $122.00 price target (down previously from $155.00) on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on Global Payments from $138.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Robert H. B. Baldwin, Jr. acquired 5,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $116.00 per share, with a total value of $672,800.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 42,738 shares in the company, valued at $4,957,608. The trade was a 15.70 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.98% of the company’s stock.

Global Payments Stock Performance

Global Payments stock opened at $103.19 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The firm has a market cap of $25.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.70, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.01. Global Payments Inc. has a 1-year low of $91.60 and a 1-year high of $140.38. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $109.18 and a 200-day moving average of $108.91.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) 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 return on equity of 12.21% and a net margin of 15.54%. The business had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.31 billion. Sell-side analysts expect that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Global Payments’s payout ratio is currently 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.