Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Purchases 37,035 Shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its stake in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) by 82.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 81,722 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 37,035 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank's holdings in Global Payments were worth $10,379,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Global Payments by 191.3% during the fourth quarter. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 20,890 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $2,653,000 after acquiring an additional 13,718 shares during the last quarter. SVB Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. SVB Wealth LLC now owns 8,221 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,044,000 after purchasing an additional 305 shares during the period. Keel Point LLC increased its position in Global Payments by 13.1% during the 4th quarter. Keel Point LLC now owns 3,690 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $469,000 after purchasing an additional 428 shares in the last quarter. Dakota Wealth Management raised its holdings in Global Payments by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 43,419 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $5,514,000 after buying an additional 205 shares during the period. Finally, Waldron Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Global Payments during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $200,000. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on GPN. Robert W. Baird raised 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. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Global Payments from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. B. Riley lifted their price target on shares of Global Payments from $180.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Global Payments from a "c" rating to a "b-" rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Mizuho restated a "neutral" rating and set a $129.00 target price on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $151.92.

Global Payments Stock Performance

GPN traded down $0.08 during trading on Friday, reaching $122.10. 1,065,055 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,823,207. Global Payments Inc. has a 52 week low of $95.12 and a 52 week high of $141.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $130.33 and a 200 day moving average of $124.32. The stock has a market cap of $31.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.30, a PEG ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.96.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The business services provider reported $2.65 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.18 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.30 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.82%. Global Payments's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.