Vontobel Holding Ltd. Raises Stock Position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 133.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 27,412 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,682 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $3,481,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GPN. BluePath Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Global Payments during the third quarter worth $27,000. Clear Street Markets LLC purchased a new position in shares of Global Payments during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Global Payments in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in Global Payments in the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo LLC purchased a new position in Global Payments in the third quarter valued at $47,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on GPN. StockNews.com cut shares of Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $138.00 to $137.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $145.00 to $159.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $151.92.

Global Payments Stock Performance

Shares of GPN stock opened at $122.95 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $130.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $124.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99. Global Payments Inc. has a one year low of $95.12 and a one year high of $141.77. The firm has a market cap of $31.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.53, a P/E/G ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.96.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The business services provider reported $2.65 EPS 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 firm had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.18 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.30 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Global Payments Inc. will post 10.94 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Global Payments’s payout ratio is currently 26.46%.

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.