Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Has $189.31 Million Stock Position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 10.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,957,914 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 193,137 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned 0.77% of Global Payments worth $189,307,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the 1st quarter worth approximately $31,000. LRI Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,000. West Paces Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Global Payments by 54.5% during the 1st quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 309 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, North Star Investment Management Corp. raised its stake in shares of Global Payments by 154.7% during the 1st quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 354 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Global Payments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on Global Payments in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $100.00 price objective on the stock. William Blair upgraded Global Payments to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Global Payments from $111.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Global Payments from $172.00 to $158.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $142.59.

Global Payments Stock Up 1.5 %

GPN stock opened at $112.97 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.41, a PEG ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.98. Global Payments Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $91.60 and a fifty-two week high of $141.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $105.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $110.39.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The business services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.32 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 11.93% and a net margin of 14.26%. Global Payments’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.48 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 19.84%.

Insider Transactions at Global Payments

In other news, CAO David M. Sheffield sold 1,651 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.73, for a total transaction of $166,305.23. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,068,087.63. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.98% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Global Payments Company 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.