Proficio Capital Partners LLC Invests $5.94 Million in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 53,026 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $5,942,000.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Atria Investments Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 7.8% in the third quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 9,850 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,009,000 after purchasing an additional 711 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC raised its position in Global Payments by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 8,257 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $846,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 7,015 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $718,000 after buying an additional 345 shares during the period. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Global Payments by 93.5% during the 3rd quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 15,582 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,596,000 after buying an additional 7,529 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Global Payments by 19.6% during the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 50,848 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,208,000 after buying an additional 8,320 shares during the period. 89.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GPN has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $135.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. 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 report on Monday, December 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $122.00 price objective (down from $155.00) on shares of Global Payments in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Bank of America lowered their target price on Global Payments from $156.00 to $149.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded 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 issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $134.33.

Global Payments Price Performance

NYSE GPN opened at $94.15 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $23.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.23, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.04. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average price is $106.05 and its 200 day moving average price is $108.16. Global Payments Inc. has a 1 year low of $90.99 and a 1 year high of $136.36.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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). Global Payments had a net margin of 15.54% and a return on equity of 12.21%. The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.31 billion. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.06%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.18%.

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.