Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ Buys New Position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ bought a new stake in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 85,208 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $9,548,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of GPN. AIA Group Ltd bought a new stake in Global Payments during the 4th quarter valued at $349,000. Oribel Capital Management LP increased its stake in Global Payments by 495.1% during the 4th quarter. Oribel Capital Management LP now owns 521,300 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $58,417,000 after purchasing an additional 433,700 shares in the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC increased its stake in Global Payments by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 2,313 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $259,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in 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 valued at $5,682,000 after purchasing an additional 26,104 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Focused Investors LLC bought a new stake in Global Payments during the 4th quarter valued at $99,969,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Global Payments from $166.00 to $163.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Wolfe Research restated a "peer perform" rating on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. TD Cowen lowered shares of Global Payments from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $78.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Citigroup restated a "buy" rating on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Global Payments from $115.00 to $85.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $112.43.

Global Payments Stock Performance

NYSE GPN traded down $0.36 during trading on Friday, hitting $75.49. 4,674,141 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,476,381. Global Payments Inc. has a 12-month low of $65.93 and a 12-month high of $120.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.21, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.97. The business has a 50 day moving average of $81.33 and a 200-day moving average of $99.36.

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

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

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 issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Global Payments's payout ratio is 16.13%.

Global Payments Company 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.