Allstate Corp Purchases Shares of 7,686 Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Allstate Corp acquired a new position in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 7,686 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $861,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its position in Global Payments by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 26,946 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,760,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. Sage Capital Advisors llc boosted its holdings in Global Payments by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Sage Capital Advisors llc now owns 28,232 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,164,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp grew its position in Global Payments by 4.1% in the third quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp now owns 2,440 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $250,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA increased its stake in Global Payments by 11.2% in the 4th quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 992 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $111,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Truvestments Capital LLC lifted its position in Global Payments by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 3,685 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $413,000 after buying an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on GPN. StockNews.com upgraded Global Payments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Global Payments from $156.00 to $149.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $122.00 price objective (down previously from $155.00) on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of Global Payments from $140.00 to $135.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Global Payments from $166.00 to $163.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.10.

Global Payments Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of GPN stock opened at $98.09 on Tuesday. 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 Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $90.99 and a fifty-two week high of $133.63. The company has a market cap of $24.12 billion, a PE ratio of 15.87, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.04. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $103.51 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $107.25.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.84 earnings per share (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 the consensus estimate of $2.31 billion. Global Payments had a net margin of 15.54% and a return on equity of 12.21%. Equities analysts predict that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.02%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.18%.

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.