Metis Global Partners LLC Sells 1,092 Shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Metis Global Partners LLC trimmed its holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 11.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,428 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,092 shares during the quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $1,070,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Global Payments by 40.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,346,779 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,078,525,000 after buying an additional 2,703,434 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its holdings in Global Payments by 40.5% in the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,142,771 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $591,613,000 after buying an additional 1,481,714 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Global Payments by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,499,860 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $403,849,000 after buying an additional 116,664 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in Global Payments by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,402,869 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $392,657,000 after buying an additional 89,057 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Global Payments by 338.3% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,288,108 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $379,416,000 after buying an additional 2,537,941 shares in the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Global Payments from $143.00 to $128.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. TheStreet raised Global Payments from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Citigroup dropped their target price on Global Payments from $163.00 to $155.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. KeyCorp dropped their target price on Global Payments from $155.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their target price on Global Payments from $185.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twenty-one have given 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 $150.00.

Global Payments Trading Up 0.2 %

GPN stock opened at $111.06 on Thursday. Global Payments Inc. has a 1-year low of $95.12 and a 1-year high of $141.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The company has a market capitalization of $28.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.04, a PEG ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.97. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $126.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $124.81.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The business services provider reported $2.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.18 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 11.72% and a net margin of 13.40%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.30 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Global Payments Inc. will post 10.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.90%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.84%.

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.