Huntington National Bank Boosts Holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Huntington National Bank grew its position in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 38.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,733 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 481 shares during the quarter. Huntington National Bank’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $194,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Discovery Capital Management LLC CT purchased a new position in Global Payments during the fourth quarter worth about $30,738,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Global Payments by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,230,322 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $696,362,000 after buying an additional 301,877 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 56.0% in the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 204,216 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $22,885,000 after buying an additional 73,300 shares during the period. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG boosted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 40.0% in the fourth quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG now owns 9,304 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,042,000 after buying an additional 2,659 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its holdings in Global Payments by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 377,735 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $42,329,000 after acquiring an additional 16,970 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Global Payments Price Performance

GPN opened at $84.82 on Friday. Global Payments Inc. has a 1 year low of $84.50 and a 1 year high of $129.35. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $102.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $106.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.85 billion, a PE ratio of 13.72, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.97.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.84 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.98 by ($0.14). The company had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.31 billion. Global Payments had a net margin of 15.54% and a return on equity of 12.21%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.18%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.18%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GPN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of Global Payments from $140.00 to $135.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $122.00 target price (down from $155.00) on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Global Payments from $156.00 to $149.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Global Payments from $166.00 to $163.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Global Payments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.10.

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.