Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Boosts Stock Holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 50.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,256,238 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 420,739 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $140,774,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 13.4% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,949,458 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $330,516,000 after acquiring an additional 349,457 shares in the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC raised its holdings in Global Payments by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 2,313 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $259,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in Global Payments by 106.1% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 50,705 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,682,000 after purchasing an additional 26,104 shares in the last quarter. Focused Investors LLC acquired a new stake in Global Payments in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $99,969,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Global Payments by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,614,533 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $180,925,000 after purchasing an additional 72,992 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $122.00 target price (down previously from $155.00) on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $156.00 to $149.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. Stephens cut shares of Global Payments from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $125.00 to $120.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Global Payments from $166.00 to $163.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on Global Payments from $138.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $134.33.

Global Payments Price Performance

Shares of GPN stock opened at $97.55 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.93. The company has a market capitalization of $23.99 billion, a PE ratio of 15.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.04. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $103.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $107.32. Global Payments Inc. has a 12 month low of $90.99 and a 12 month high of $133.63.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.84 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 analysts’ expectations of $2.31 billion. Global Payments had a net margin of 15.54% and a return on equity of 12.21%. Analysts predict that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.18%.

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.