Korea Investment CORP Has $19.81 Million Stock Holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Korea Investment CORP raised its position in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 50.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 176,793 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 59,300 shares during the period. Korea Investment CORP’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $19,811,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Global Payments during the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Global Payments during the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. bought a new position in shares of Global Payments in the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 177.5% in the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 469 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LRI Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 94.4% in the 3rd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 517 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GPN has been the subject of several research reports. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $138.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Global Payments from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Stephens cut Global Payments from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $125.00 to $120.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. 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. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Global Payments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Global Payments has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $134.33.

Global Payments Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of GPN stock opened at $97.55 on Friday. Global Payments Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $90.99 and a fifty-two week high of $133.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.97. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $103.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $107.34. The company has a market cap of $23.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.79, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.04.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.98 by ($0.14). The company had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.31 billion. Global Payments had a net margin of 15.54% and a return on equity of 12.21%. Research analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Global Payments’s payout ratio is 16.18%.

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.