Leuthold Group LLC Buys Shares of 29,121 Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Leuthold Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 29,121 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,263,000.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Tidal Investments LLC grew its position in Global Payments by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 26,946 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,760,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. Sage Capital Advisors llc boosted its position in shares of Global Payments by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Sage Capital Advisors llc now owns 28,232 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,164,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the period. SYM FINANCIAL Corp grew its holdings in Global Payments by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp now owns 2,440 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $250,000 after buying an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust increased its position in Global Payments by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 2,068 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $232,000 after acquiring an additional 115 shares during the period. Finally, Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators raised its stake in Global Payments by 27.2% during the 3rd quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 543 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $56,000 after acquiring an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Global Payments from $166.00 to $163.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Global Payments from $143.00 to $130.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Global Payments from $135.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Global Payments from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $138.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Global Payments presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $134.33.

Insider Activity

In other Global Payments news, Director Robert H. B. Baldwin, Jr. bought 5,800 shares of Global Payments stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The shares were bought at an average price of $116.00 per share, with a total value of $672,800.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 42,738 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,957,608. This trade represents a 15.70 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.98% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Global Payments Price Performance

NYSE GPN opened at $103.19 on Friday. Global Payments Inc. has a 52-week low of $91.60 and a 52-week high of $140.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $109.94 and a 200-day simple moving average of $108.82.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.98 by ($0.14). Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.21% and a net margin of 15.54%. The business had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.31 billion. Equities research analysts predict that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.97%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.18%.

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.