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

ProShare Advisors LLC raised its position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) by 11.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 54,528 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 5,635 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC's holdings in Global Payments were worth $6,110,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GPN. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Global Payments in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $345,823,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Global Payments by 25.0% in the fourth quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 8,298,846 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $929,969,000 after acquiring an additional 1,659,984 shares during the period. Contour Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Global Payments in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $147,695,000. Focused Investors LLC acquired a new stake in Global Payments in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $99,969,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Global Payments in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $53,700,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on GPN. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Global Payments from $105.00 to $77.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Citigroup reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Monday, April 21st. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Global Payments from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Royal Bank of Canada cut Global Payments from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and set a $86.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Global Payments from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating 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 company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $112.43.

Global Payments Stock Performance

GPN stock traded down $1.60 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $74.12. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,199,931 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,471,562. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $83.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $100.71. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. Global Payments Inc. has a 1 year low of $65.93 and a 1 year high of $120.00. The stock has a market cap of $18.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.99, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.96.

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

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.35%. Global Payments's payout ratio is presently 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.