Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Buys 2,724 Shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. lifted its stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 14.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 21,862 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,724 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $2,114,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 194.2% during the second quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 6,423,463 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $621,149,000 after buying an additional 4,240,388 shares during the last quarter. Kodai Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Global Payments in the fourth quarter valued at $69,029,000. Natixis raised its stake in shares of Global Payments by 830.2% in the first quarter. Natixis now owns 589,520 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $78,795,000 after purchasing an additional 526,143 shares in the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC raised its stake in shares of Global Payments by 267.0% in the first quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 677,854 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $90,602,000 after purchasing an additional 493,164 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TimesSquare Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Global Payments in the first quarter valued at $47,094,000. 89.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GPN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. William Blair upgraded Global Payments to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Global Payments from $111.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Global Payments from $124.00 to $126.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. BNP Paribas upgraded Global Payments to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on Global Payments in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $100.00 target price on the stock. 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Global Payments presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $142.59.

Global Payments Trading Up 1.5 %

NYSE GPN opened at $112.97 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $105.25 and its 200-day moving average is $110.39. Global Payments Inc. has a one year low of $91.60 and a one year high of $141.77. The firm has a market cap of $28.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.41, a P/E/G ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.92.

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

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.89%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is 19.84%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Global Payments

In other news, CAO David M. Sheffield sold 1,651 shares of Global Payments stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,531 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,068,087.63. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.98% of the company’s stock.

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.