River Road Asset Management LLC Buys 151,288 Shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

River Road Asset Management LLC grew its position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) by 196.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 228,337 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 151,288 shares during the period. River Road Asset Management LLC owned approximately 0.09% of Global Payments worth $28,999,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of GPN. BluePath Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Global Payments in the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Global Payments in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Clear Street Markets LLC bought a new position in shares of Global Payments in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Global Payments in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, CVA Family Office LLC bought a new position in shares of Global Payments in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Institutional investors own 89.76% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on GPN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $145.00 to $159.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Global Payments from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Global Payments from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Global Payments from $170.00 to $160.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their target price 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Global Payments presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $151.92.

Global Payments Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:GPN traded down $0.79 during trading on Thursday, reaching $122.16. 863,384 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,219,430. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $130.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $124.21. The firm has a market cap of $31.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.96. Global Payments Inc. has a 1-year low of $95.12 and a 1-year high of $141.77. 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 (NYSE:GPN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The business services provider reported $2.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.64 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.18 billion. Global Payments had a net margin of 10.22% and a return on equity of 11.44%. Global Payments's revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.30 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Global Payments Inc. will post 10.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.82%. Global Payments's dividend payout ratio is currently 26.46%.

About Global Payments

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.