Poplar Forest Capital LLC Acquires Shares of 128,729 Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Poplar Forest Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 128,729 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $13,184,000. Global Payments accounts for about 1.8% of Poplar Forest Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest position.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GPN. Stanley Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 18.9% during the second quarter. Stanley Capital Management LLC now owns 125,608 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $12,146,000 after acquiring an additional 20,000 shares in the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co raised its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 12.3% during the first quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 267,483 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $35,775,000 after acquiring an additional 29,289 shares in the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Global Payments during the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 8.8% during the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 302,364 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $40,414,000 after acquiring an additional 24,415 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gradient Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 20.6% during the second quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 172,939 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $16,723,000 after acquiring an additional 29,503 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Global Payments Trading Up 7.1 %

Shares of NYSE:GPN opened at $115.04 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $29.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.66, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.93. Global Payments Inc. has a 1 year low of $91.60 and a 1 year high of $141.77. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $104.58 and its 200-day moving average price is $103.83.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The business services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.57 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.32 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 11.94% and a net margin of 13.61%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.48 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is 18.83%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on GPN. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Global Payments from $143.00 to $130.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Monness Crespi & Hardt decreased their target price on Global Payments from $165.00 to $155.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. William Blair cut Global Payments from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut Global Payments from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $135.00 to $112.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Global Payments from $164.00 to $156.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $136.50.

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.