Banco Santander S.A. Makes New $513,000 Investment in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Banco Santander S.A. acquired a new stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 5,013 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $513,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Stanley Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Global Payments by 18.9% during the 2nd quarter. Stanley Capital Management LLC now owns 125,608 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $12,146,000 after acquiring an additional 20,000 shares in the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new position in Global Payments in the first quarter valued at about $32,000. Entropy Technologies LP bought a new position in Global Payments in the third quarter worth about $562,000. Gradient Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Global Payments by 20.6% during the second quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 172,939 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $16,723,000 after buying an additional 29,503 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Poplar Forest Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Global Payments in the 3rd quarter valued at about $13,184,000. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Global Payments Stock Performance

Shares of GPN stock opened at $117.08 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. Global Payments Inc. has a 12-month low of $91.60 and a 12-month high of $141.77. The business’s 50 day moving average is $105.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $103.50. The company has a market capitalization of $29.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.05, a P/E/G ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 0.97.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.85%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.83%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. William Blair lowered shares of Global Payments from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. BNP Paribas upgraded Global Payments to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating and issued a $147.00 price target on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Global Payments from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Global Payments from $145.00 to $120.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $136.57.

Global Payments 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.