Simplicity Solutions LLC Buys 189 Shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Simplicity Solutions LLC boosted its stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 7.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,833 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 189 shares during the period. Simplicity Solutions LLC’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $360,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp increased its position in Global Payments by 1.3% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,819,457 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,138,638,000 after acquiring an additional 134,403 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 40.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,346,779 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,078,525,000 after purchasing an additional 2,703,434 shares during the period. Boston Partners lifted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 40.5% in the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,142,771 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $591,613,000 after purchasing an additional 1,481,714 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 24.8% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,518,268 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $370,263,000 after buying an additional 698,913 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Global Payments by 3.4% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,499,860 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $403,849,000 after buying an additional 116,664 shares during the period. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Global Payments Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of GPN opened at $122.13 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 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. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $130.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $124.23.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The business services provider reported $2.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $0.01. Global Payments had a net margin of 10.22% and a return on equity of 11.44%. The company had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.30 earnings per share. Global Payments’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Global Payments Inc. will post 10.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Global Payments’s payout ratio is 26.46%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GPN has been the topic of several analyst reports. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Global Payments from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Barclays reduced their price target on Global Payments from $170.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Global Payments from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Global Payments from $185.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Global Payments from $145.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Global Payments has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $151.92.

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.