Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators Purchases 116 Shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators boosted its position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 27.2% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 543 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 116 shares during the quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators’ holdings in Global Payments were worth $56,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Global Payments by 1.2% during the third quarter. Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,210 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $841,000 after buying an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Archford Capital Strategies LLC grew its stake in shares of Global Payments by 1.2% in the second quarter. Archford Capital Strategies LLC now owns 11,588 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,121,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. Paloma Partners Management Co grew its stake in shares of Global Payments by 4.5% in the first quarter. Paloma Partners Management Co now owns 3,180 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $425,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. grew its stake in shares of Global Payments by 59.6% in the third quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 383 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Global Payments by 31.6% in the third quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 645 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $66,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Global Payments Trading Down 2.7 %

GPN opened at $111.92 on Friday. Global Payments Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $91.60 and a fifty-two week high of $141.77. 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’s 50-day moving average is $104.58 and its 200 day moving average is $103.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.48 billion, a PE ratio of 21.08, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.97.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The business services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.03. Global Payments had a net margin of 13.61% and a return on equity of 11.94%. The business had revenue of $2.57 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.32 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.48 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Global Payments’s payout ratio is 18.83%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. KeyCorp dropped their target price on shares of Global Payments from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Global Payments to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Global Payments from $164.00 to $156.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Global Payments from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Stephens dropped their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $130.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 18th. One 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $136.50.

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.