Axa S.A. Has $63.22 Million Stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

AXA S.A. decreased its holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) by 6.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 564,178 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 38,657 shares during the period. AXA S.A. owned about 0.22% of Global Payments worth $63,222,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GPN. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Global Payments by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,995,107 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $2,800,952,000 after buying an additional 179,195 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its position 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 worth $929,969,000 after purchasing an additional 1,659,984 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Global Payments by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,230,322 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $696,362,000 after buying an additional 301,877 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in Global Payments by 1.5% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,499,729 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $564,437,000 after buying an additional 83,481 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the fourth quarter worth $345,823,000. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on Global Payments in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. They set an "in-line" rating and a $85.00 target price for the company. Stephens lowered shares of Global Payments from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $125.00 to $120.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Wolfe Research restated a "peer perform" rating on shares of Global Payments in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Barclays dropped their target price on Global Payments from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Global Payments from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $75.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, April 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $112.09.

Global Payments Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GPN traded up $1.95 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $80.84. The stock had a trading volume of 3,188,145 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,415,400. The company's 50-day moving average price is $87.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $102.62. Global Payments Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $65.93 and a fifty-two week high of $120.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The company has a market capitalization of $19.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.96.

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

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.24%. Global Payments's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.13%.

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.