MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 4,998 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $635,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. AllGen Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Global Payments in the fourth quarter worth $217,000. First National Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Global Payments in the fourth quarter valued at about $240,000. WESCAP Management Group Inc. lifted its position in Global Payments by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. WESCAP Management Group Inc. now owns 6,576 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $835,000 after acquiring an additional 772 shares during the period. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Global Payments during the 4th quarter worth $225,000. Finally, Sapient Capital LLC acquired a new position in Global Payments during the fourth quarter worth $881,000. Institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on GPN shares. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $155.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $182.00 to $150.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. TheStreet raised Global Payments from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Global Payments from $154.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Mizuho reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $129.00 price target on shares of Global Payments in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $150.00.

Global Payments Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:GPN traded down $0.17 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $110.92. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 570,293 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,258,680. Global Payments Inc. has a 12 month low of $95.12 and a 12 month high of $141.77. The company has a 50-day moving average of $127.05 and a 200-day moving average of $124.81. The firm has a market cap of $28.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.04, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.92.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The business services provider reported $2.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.18 billion. Global Payments had a net margin of 13.40% and a return on equity of 11.72%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.30 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Global Payments Inc. will post 10.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is currently 19.84%.

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.