CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co Purchases 29,289 Shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co boosted its stake in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 12.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 267,483 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 29,289 shares during the period. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $35,775,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its position in Global Payments by 18.8% during the first quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 524 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Global Payments by 1.9% in the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,752 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $635,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. boosted its holdings in Global Payments by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 5,409 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $687,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Global Payments by 5.1% in the first quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,930 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $258,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CENTRAL TRUST Co raised its stake in shares of Global Payments by 30.9% in the first quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 453 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Global Payments

In other news, VP Andrea M. Carter sold 3,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.34, for a total transaction of $367,422.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 25,209 shares in the company, valued at $2,806,770.06. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.98% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GPN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Global Payments from $182.00 to $150.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Monness Crespi & Hardt decreased their price target on Global Payments from $175.00 to $165.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Global Payments from $160.00 to $164.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on Global Payments from $143.00 to $128.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on Global Payments from $163.00 to $155.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $145.32.

Global Payments Price Performance

Global Payments stock traded up $1.08 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $99.46. 709,302 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,309,613. 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 50 day simple moving average is $98.73 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $117.92. The company has a market capitalization of $25.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.81, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.98. Global Payments Inc. has a 12-month low of $91.60 and a 12-month high of $141.77.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The business services provider reported $2.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.41 by $0.07. Global Payments had a return on equity of 11.72% and a net margin of 13.40%. The business had revenue of $2.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.17 billion. Analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.01%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.84%.

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.