ProShare Advisors LLC Acquires 5,635 Shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 11.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 54,528 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,635 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $6,110,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GPN. Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its stake in Global Payments by 27.9% during the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 7,358 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $825,000 after acquiring an additional 1,604 shares in the last quarter. Avanza Fonder AB bought a new position in shares of Global Payments during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,154,000. Merit Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 10.3% in the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 5,219 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $585,000 after purchasing an additional 489 shares during the last quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Global Payments in the fourth quarter worth about $277,000. Finally, Lbmc Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Global Payments during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $204,000. 89.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on GPN. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Global Payments from $156.00 to $149.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded shares of Global Payments from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $86.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Cowen lowered shares of Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Williams Trading set a $75.00 target price on shares of Global Payments in a report on Friday, April 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. They set an “in-line” rating and a $85.00 target price on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Global Payments currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $112.43.

Global Payments Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:GPN opened at $82.37 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $85.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $101.74. 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 one year low of $65.93 and a one year high of $120.00. The firm has a market cap of $20.09 billion, a PE ratio of 13.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.96.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The business services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.73 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $2.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.20 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.21% and a net margin of 15.54%. Global Payments’s revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.59 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.21%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.13%.

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.