Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co Raises Holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co increased its position in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 3.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 23,421 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 765 shares during the period. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $2,625,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of Global Payments by 13.4% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,949,458 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $330,516,000 after purchasing an additional 349,457 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC raised its position in shares of Global Payments by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 2,313 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $259,000 after acquiring an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 106.1% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 50,705 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,682,000 after purchasing an additional 26,104 shares during the last quarter. Focused Investors LLC bought a new stake in Global Payments during the fourth quarter valued at about $99,969,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Global Payments by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,614,533 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $180,925,000 after purchasing an additional 72,992 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on GPN. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $156.00 to $149.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. 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 report on Friday, February 14th. Stephens cut Global Payments from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $125.00 to $120.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Barclays dropped their price target on Global Payments from $135.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Global Payments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $134.33.

Global Payments Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GPN opened at $97.55 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.93. Global Payments Inc. has a 12 month low of $90.99 and a 12 month high of $133.63. The firm has a market capitalization 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’s fifty day moving average price is $103.72 and its 200 day moving average price is $107.35.

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

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

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

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.