Cozad Asset Management Inc. Grows Stock Position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Cozad Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 13.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,823 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 669 shares during the period. Cozad Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $653,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Global Payments by 25.0% during the 4th quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 8,298,846 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $929,969,000 after buying an additional 1,659,984 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Global Payments by 0.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,928,445 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $605,078,000 after acquiring an additional 31,934 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in Global Payments by 1.5% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,499,729 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $564,437,000 after purchasing an additional 83,481 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in shares of Global Payments by 13.4% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,949,458 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $330,516,000 after purchasing an additional 349,457 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in shares of Global Payments by 22.7% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,646,854 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $271,090,000 after purchasing an additional 490,411 shares in the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Global Payments Trading Up 1.7 %

NYSE GPN opened at $95.82 on Tuesday. 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 has a market capitalization of $23.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.51, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.04. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $105.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $108.06. Global Payments Inc. has a 12 month low of $90.99 and a 12 month high of $136.36.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.84 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.98 by ($0.14). The company had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.31 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.21% and a net margin of 15.54%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid 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 dividend yield of 1.04%. Global Payments’s payout ratio is presently 16.18%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GPN has been the topic of a number of research reports. Stephens lowered shares of Global Payments from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $125.00 to $120.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Global Payments from $166.00 to $163.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Barclays reduced their price objective on 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 lifted their target price on shares of Global Payments from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $122.00 target price (down from $155.00) on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Global Payments presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.33.

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.