AFS Financial Group LLC Purchases New Stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

AFS Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 1,588 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $202,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of GPN. BluePath Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Global Payments during the third quarter worth about $27,000. Clear Street Markets LLC acquired a new stake in Global Payments in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Global Payments in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo LLC purchased a new position in shares of Global Payments during the third quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its position in shares of Global Payments by 77.7% during the third quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 407 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 178 shares during the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Global Payments Trading Up 0.9 %

Global Payments stock traded up $1.16 during trading on Thursday, hitting $128.26. The company had a trading volume of 180,547 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,323,942. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $132.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $123.79. The stock has a market cap of $32.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick 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.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The business services provider reported $2.65 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.43 billion during 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%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.30 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Global Payments Inc. will post 10.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.78%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.46%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on GPN shares. Wedbush boosted their target price on Global Payments from $130.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Barclays increased their target price on Global Payments from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. KeyCorp increased their target price on Global Payments from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price 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. Finally, Susquehanna lifted their price objective on Global Payments from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. One research 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, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $151.92.

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.