Northern Trust Corp Grows Holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) by 12.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 2,730,471 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 305,987 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp owned 1.07% of Global Payments worth $305,977,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Global Payments in the third quarter worth $25,000. Optiver Holding B.V. purchased a new stake in Global Payments in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Global Payments during the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Global Payments in the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Manchester Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 177.5% in the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 469 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on GPN shares. Cowen lowered shares of Global Payments from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. TD Cowen lowered Global Payments from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $78.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on Global Payments in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued an "in-line" rating and a $85.00 target price on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded Global Payments from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $135.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Williams Trading set a $75.00 target price on Global Payments in a research report on Friday, April 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eighteen have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $112.86.

Global Payments Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE GPN traded down $1.25 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $78.00. 986,040 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,396,348. The stock has a market cap of $19.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.63, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.96. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $88.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $102.95. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. Global Payments Inc. has a 12-month low of $65.93 and a 12-month high of $120.00.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.84 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.98 by ($0.14). The company had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.31 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.21% and a net margin of 15.54%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued 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 1.28%. Global Payments's payout ratio is 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.