Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Reduces Stock Position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lessened its stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN – Get Rating) by 7.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,943 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 989 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $1,285,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Boston Partners raised its holdings in Global Payments by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,943,273 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $534,064,000 after purchasing an additional 89,927 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership raised its holdings in Global Payments by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 4,055,387 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $438,185,000 after purchasing an additional 157,380 shares during the period. Echo Street Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Global Payments by 79.6% in the 3rd quarter. Echo Street Capital Management LLC now owns 2,676,292 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $289,173,000 after purchasing an additional 1,186,038 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Global Payments by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,531,002 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $273,475,000 after purchasing an additional 71,801 shares during the period. Finally, Ceredex Value Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Global Payments by 35.9% in the 4th quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 1,538,393 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $152,793,000 after purchasing an additional 406,714 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GPN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on Global Payments in a report on Tuesday, April 18th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $124.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com began coverage on Global Payments in a report on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Global Payments from $125.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Monday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Global Payments from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $127.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Global Payments from $135.00 to $144.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $146.30.

Insider Buying and Selling at Global Payments

In other Global Payments news, CAO David M. Sheffield sold 1,562 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.08, for a total value of $176,630.96. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 28,032 shares in the company, valued at $3,169,858.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 1.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Global Payments Stock Down 2.0 %

Shares of NYSE GPN opened at $101.96 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $26.71 billion, a P/E ratio of -216.94, a PEG ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. Global Payments Inc. has a 12-month low of $92.27 and a 12-month high of $136.88. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $103.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $104.80.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 1st. The business services provider reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.31 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.01 billion. Global Payments had a positive return on equity of 10.67% and a negative net margin of 1.58%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.97 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Global Payments Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 15th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 14th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is presently -212.77%.

Global Payments Company Profile

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Global Payments, Inc engages in the provision of payment technology and software solutions. It operates through the following segments: Merchant Solutions, Issuer Solutions and Business & Consumer Solutions. The Merchant Solutions segment provides payments technology and software solutions to customers globally.