Northstar Advisory Group LLC Invests $1.28 Million in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Northstar Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 10,092 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,282,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 1.3% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,819,457 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,138,638,000 after buying an additional 134,403 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in Global Payments by 40.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,346,779 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,078,525,000 after purchasing an additional 2,703,434 shares during the period. Boston Partners raised its stake in Global Payments by 40.5% during the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,142,771 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $591,613,000 after purchasing an additional 1,481,714 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in shares of Global Payments by 24.8% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,518,268 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $370,263,000 after acquiring an additional 698,913 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Global Payments by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,499,860 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $403,849,000 after acquiring an additional 116,664 shares during the period. 89.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Global Payments Stock Up 0.3 %

GPN stock opened at $132.12 on Thursday. Global Payments Inc. has a one year low of $95.12 and a one year high of $141.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $33.70 billion, a PE ratio of 34.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99. The company has a fifty day moving average of $132.78 and a 200-day moving average of $123.54.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The business services provider reported $2.65 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $0.01. Global Payments had a net margin of 10.22% and a return on equity of 11.44%. The company had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.18 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.30 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Global Payments Inc. will post 10.94 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 14th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.46%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GPN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Global Payments from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Global Payments from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Global Payments from $185.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, B. Riley increased their target price on shares of Global Payments from $180.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $151.92.

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.