1,785 Shares in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Acquired by Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC

Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC purchased a new stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 1,785 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $200,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 65.6% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,982,496 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $203,047,000 after acquiring an additional 785,539 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Global Payments by 1,559.6% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 548,833 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $61,502,000 after purchasing an additional 515,763 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in Global Payments by 22.7% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,646,854 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $271,090,000 after buying an additional 490,411 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Global Payments during the fourth quarter valued at about $53,700,000. Finally, Soros Fund Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Global Payments in the third quarter worth about $47,113,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Global Payments news, Director Robert H. B. Baldwin, Jr. bought 5,800 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $116.00 per share, with a total value of $672,800.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 42,738 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,957,608. This represents a 15.70 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.98% of the company’s stock.

Global Payments Stock Performance

GPN opened at $93.35 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.97. The company has a market cap of $23.12 billion, a PE ratio of 15.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.04. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $107.19 and a 200-day moving average of $108.51. Global Payments Inc. has a 52-week low of $91.60 and a 52-week high of $140.38.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.98 by ($0.14). Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.21% and a net margin of 15.54%. The company had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.31 billion. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.07%. Global Payments’s payout ratio is presently 16.18%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Global Payments from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Stephens downgraded shares of Global Payments from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their target price for the company from $125.00 to $120.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. StockNews.com raised Global Payments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Global Payments from $166.00 to $163.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on Global Payments from $138.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $134.33.

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.