Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Shares Bought by Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 17.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 385,178 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 58,524 shares during the quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $51,483,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt boosted its position in shares of Global Payments by 70.4% during the 4th quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 564 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $72,000 after acquiring an additional 233 shares during the last quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Global Payments during the 4th quarter valued at about $210,000. McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. boosted its position in shares of Global Payments by 35.4% during the 4th quarter. McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. now owns 46,953 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,963,000 after acquiring an additional 12,273 shares during the last quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp boosted its position in shares of Global Payments by 29.1% during the 4th quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 82,672 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $10,499,000 after acquiring an additional 18,615 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Global Payments by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 255,468 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $32,064,000 after acquiring an additional 15,655 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on GPN. Monness Crespi & Hardt lowered their price target on shares of Global Payments from $175.00 to $165.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $100.00 price target on the stock. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Global Payments from $160.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of Global Payments from $182.00 to $150.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Global Payments from $163.00 to $155.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Global Payments presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $145.68.

Insider Activity at Global Payments

In other news, VP Andrea M. Carter sold 3,300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.34, for a total value of $367,422.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 25,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,806,770.06. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.98% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Global Payments Stock Down 0.4 %

GPN traded down $0.37 on Friday, reaching $96.22. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,345,504 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,214,987. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $102.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $120.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The company has a market capitalization of $24.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.09, a P/E/G ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 0.98. Global Payments Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $91.60 and a fifty-two week high of $141.77.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The business services provider reported $2.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.41 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $2.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.17 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 11.72% and a net margin of 13.40%. As a group, analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.