Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Shares Bought by Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc.

Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) by 191.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,890 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 13,718 shares during the quarter. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Global Payments were worth $2,653,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Penserra Capital Management LLC increased its position in Global Payments by 6.4% during the 1st quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 1,389 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $190,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the period. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Global Payments by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,485 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $287,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. increased its stake in shares of Global Payments by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 5,409 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $687,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. increased its stake in shares of Global Payments by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 4,707 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $543,000 after acquiring an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital increased its stake in shares of Global Payments by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 13,740 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,828,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on GPN shares. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Global Payments from $154.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $185.00 to $180.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $145.00 to $159.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $138.00 to $137.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, TheStreet upgraded shares of Global Payments from a "c" rating to a "b-" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $151.92.

Global Payments Price Performance

NYSE:GPN traded up $0.25 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $123.42. 1,583,140 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,247,444. The company has a market cap of $31.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. Global Payments Inc. has a 1 year low of $95.12 and a 1 year high of $141.77. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $131.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $124.21.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The business services provider reported $2.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.18 billion. Global Payments had a net margin of 10.22% and a return on equity of 11.44%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.30 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 10.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Global Payments's payout ratio is currently 26.46%.

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.