International Assets Investment Management LLC Invests $2.77 Million in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 21,844 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $2,774,000.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GPN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. TheStreet upgraded Global Payments from a "c" rating to a "b-" rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on Global Payments from $138.00 to $137.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 15th. B. Riley upped their price target on Global Payments from $180.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. Susquehanna upped their price target on Global Payments from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Global Payments from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Global Payments currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $151.92.

Global Payments Stock Performance

Shares of GPN stock traded down $0.05 on Friday, hitting $122.13. 1,064,715 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,204,236. Global Payments Inc. has a 1-year low of $95.12 and a 1-year high of $141.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The company's fifty day moving average is $130.61 and its 200 day moving average is $124.19. The company has a market capitalization of $31.15 billion, a PE ratio of 32.31, a PEG ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.96.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The business services provider reported $2.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $0.01. Global Payments had a return on equity of 11.44% and a net margin of 10.22%. The firm had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.18 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.30 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Global Payments Inc. will post 10.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Global Payments's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.