nVerses Capital LLC Acquires New Holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

nVerses Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 3,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $307,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 194.2% during the 2nd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 6,423,463 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $621,149,000 after acquiring an additional 4,240,388 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners raised its position in Global Payments by 0.3% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,797,677 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $639,967,000 after purchasing an additional 12,196 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 10.9% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,957,914 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $189,307,000 after purchasing an additional 193,137 shares in the last quarter. Davis Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 18.2% during the second quarter. Davis Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,300,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $125,710,000 after purchasing an additional 200,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Global Payments by 188.1% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,157,728 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $109,857,000 after buying an additional 755,898 shares during the period. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Global Payments Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GPN opened at $102.28 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $105.89 and its 200-day moving average is $105.97. Global Payments Inc. has a twelve month low of $91.60 and a twelve month high of $141.77. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $26.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.29, a PEG ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.98.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The business services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.57 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.32 billion. Global Payments had a net margin of 14.26% and a return on equity of 11.93%. The business’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.48 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.98%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 19.84%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO David M. Sheffield sold 1,651 shares of Global Payments stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.73, for a total transaction of $166,305.23. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,068,087.63. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.98% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. KeyCorp cut their target price on shares of Global Payments from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Global Payments to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Global Payments from $145.00 to $120.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 30th. William Blair downgraded Global Payments from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $138.82.

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.