Waldron Private Wealth LLC Makes New Investment in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Waldron Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 1,582 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $200,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GPN. BluePath Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Global Payments in the third quarter worth $27,000. Clear Street Markets LLC bought a new position in shares of Global Payments in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Global Payments during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in Global Payments during the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo LLC purchased a new stake in Global Payments in the third quarter worth about $47,000. Institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on GPN. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Global Payments from $170.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. StockNews.com downgraded Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Global Payments from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. TheStreet raised Global Payments from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, B. Riley increased their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $180.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Global Payments has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $151.92.

Global Payments Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE GPN opened at $123.42 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $31.48 billion, a PE ratio of 32.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.96. Global Payments Inc. has a 1 year low of $95.12 and a 1 year high of $141.77. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $131.18 and a 200-day moving average price of $124.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The business services provider reported $2.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by $0.01. Global Payments had a return on equity of 11.44% and a net margin of 10.22%. The business had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.18 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.30 EPS. Global Payments’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Global Payments Inc. will post 10.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

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

About Global Payments

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.