Pzena Investment Management LLC Has $929.97 Million Stock Position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 25.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,298,846 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,659,984 shares during the period. Global Payments comprises 3.2% of Pzena Investment Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Pzena Investment Management LLC owned approximately 3.26% of Global Payments worth $929,969,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in shares of Global Payments by 13.4% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,949,458 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $330,516,000 after acquiring an additional 349,457 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in Global Payments by 65.6% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,982,496 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $203,047,000 after buying an additional 785,539 shares during the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP bought a new stake in shares of Global Payments in the third quarter valued at $562,000. Caprock Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Global Payments by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 2,313 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $259,000 after buying an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of Global Payments by 106.1% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 50,705 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,682,000 after buying an additional 26,104 shares during the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on GPN. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $122.00 price objective (down previously from $155.00) on shares of Global Payments in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Global Payments from $138.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com raised Global Payments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Stephens lowered Global Payments from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $125.00 to $120.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Global Payments from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $134.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Robert H. B. Baldwin, Jr. bought 5,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The stock was bought at an average price of $116.00 per share, for a total transaction of $672,800.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 42,738 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,957,608. This represents a 15.70 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.98% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Global Payments Stock Performance

Shares of GPN opened at $97.06 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $24.03 billion, a PE ratio of 15.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $107.57 and a 200-day moving average price of $108.63. Global Payments Inc. has a 12-month low of $91.60 and a 12-month high of $140.38.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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). The business had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.31 billion. Global Payments had a net margin of 15.54% and a return on equity of 12.21%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

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 of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.03%. Global Payments’s payout ratio is 16.18%.

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.