Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Shares Sold by HighTower Advisors LLC

HighTower Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN – Get Rating) by 2.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 17,575 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 480 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $1,740,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GPN. Echo Street Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Global Payments by 79.6% in the third quarter. Echo Street Capital Management LLC now owns 2,676,292 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $289,173,000 after acquiring an additional 1,186,038 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Global Payments by 48.0% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,098,234 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $305,579,000 after purchasing an additional 1,004,286 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in shares of Global Payments by 93.8% during the third quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,061,953 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $114,743,000 after purchasing an additional 514,006 shares in the last quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Global Payments by 35.9% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Pendal Group Ltd grew its stake in shares of Global Payments by 25.7% during the fourth quarter. Pendal Group Ltd now owns 1,329,782 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $132,074,000 after purchasing an additional 271,863 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GPN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Global Payments from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $130.00 to $156.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 19th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Global Payments from $220.00 to $208.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 13th. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Friday, April 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $136.00 target price for the company. 51job reiterated a “maintains” rating on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Thursday, May 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of 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 assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $146.30.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO David M. Sheffield sold 1,562 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 27th. The shares were 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Global Payments Trading Down 2.8 %

NYSE GPN opened at $98.99 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.93 billion, a P/E ratio of -210.61, a P/E/G ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 1.00. Global Payments Inc. has a 52-week low of $92.27 and a 52-week high of $136.88. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $104.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $104.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 1st. The business services provider reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.31 by $0.09. Global Payments had a negative net margin of 1.58% and a positive return on equity of 10.67%. The company had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.01 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.97 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Global Payments Inc. will post 9.65 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 15th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 14th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.01%. Global Payments’s payout ratio is currently -212.76%.

About Global Payments

(Get Rating)

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.