Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp Raises Stock Holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp increased its stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 124,153 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,346 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $13,913,000 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. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,995,107 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,800,952,000 after buying an additional 179,195 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 25.0% during the 4th quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 8,298,846 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $929,969,000 after buying an additional 1,659,984 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,928,445 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $605,078,000 after purchasing an additional 31,934 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Global Payments by 1.5% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,499,729 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $564,437,000 after acquiring an additional 83,481 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in Global Payments by 13.4% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,949,458 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $330,516,000 after acquiring an additional 349,457 shares during the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on GPN. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Global Payments from $166.00 to $163.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Stephens lowered shares of Global Payments from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $125.00 to $120.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $122.00 target price (down previously from $155.00) on shares of Global Payments in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Global Payments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $134.33.

Global Payments Trading Down 1.9 %

NYSE:GPN opened at $97.55 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $103.72 and a 200-day simple moving average of $107.35. Global Payments Inc. has a one year low of $90.99 and a one year high of $133.63. The firm has a market cap of $23.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.79, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.97.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.84 earnings per share 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 analysts’ expectations of $2.31 billion. Equities analysts anticipate that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.03%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.18%.

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.