CVA Family Office LLC Purchases New Shares in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

CVA Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 395 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $50,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of GPN. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Global Payments by 10.3% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 6,136 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $840,000 after purchasing an additional 572 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its holdings in Global Payments by 7.7% in the 1st quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 3,942 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $539,000 after acquiring an additional 281 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Global Payments by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,288,788 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $176,366,000 after acquiring an additional 48,605 shares during the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its holdings in Global Payments by 259.7% in the 1st quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 17,285 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,377,000 after acquiring an additional 12,479 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prudential PLC purchased a new stake in Global Payments in the 1st quarter worth about $766,000. 89.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on GPN shares. TheStreet raised Global Payments from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Global Payments from $145.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. StockNews.com downgraded Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Global Payments from $162.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Susquehanna raised their target price on Global Payments from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Global Payments presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $151.92.

Global Payments Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE GPN opened at $131.77 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $132.78 and its 200 day moving average is $123.54. The stock has a market cap of $33.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.86, a P/E/G ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.96. Global Payments Inc. has a 1-year low of $95.12 and a 1-year high of $141.77.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The business services provider reported $2.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by $0.01. Global Payments had a return on equity of 11.44% and a net margin of 10.22%. The business had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.18 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.30 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Global Payments Inc. will post 10.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.76%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.46%.

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.