Meridiem Capital Partners LP Buys Shares of 278,677 Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Meridiem Capital Partners LP bought a new stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 278,677 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $31,229,000. Global Payments comprises approximately 2.7% of Meridiem Capital Partners LP’s holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest position.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GPN. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Global Payments by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 299,137 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $30,638,000 after acquiring an additional 8,078 shares during the period. Czech National Bank grew its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 55,180 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,183,000 after purchasing an additional 3,349 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC bought a new position in shares of Global Payments in the fourth quarter worth $678,000. Wedmont Private Capital increased its position in shares of Global Payments by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 17,973 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,900,000 after purchasing an additional 322 shares during the period. Finally, Pallas Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in Global Payments by 10.9% in the fourth quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,402 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $605,000 after acquiring an additional 530 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Global Payments Trading Up 3.2%

Shares of GPN opened at $83.10 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $86.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $102.28. Global Payments Inc. has a twelve month low of $65.93 and a twelve month high of $120.00. The stock has a market cap of $20.27 billion, a PE ratio of 13.45, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The business services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.73 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $2.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.20 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.21% and a net margin of 15.54%. The company’s revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.59 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.13%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on GPN shares. Williams Trading set a $75.00 target price on Global Payments in a research report on Friday, April 18th. Wolfe Research restated a “peer perform” rating on shares of Global Payments in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Global Payments from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $115.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $112.09.

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.