Spire Wealth Management Sells 230 Shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Spire Wealth Management reduced its position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 4.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 4,647 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 230 shares during the quarter. Spire Wealth Management’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $602,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of GPN. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt boosted its holdings in Global Payments by 70.4% in the 4th quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 564 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $72,000 after purchasing an additional 233 shares during the period. Waverly Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Global Payments by 60.5% during the third quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 19,593 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,261,000 after buying an additional 7,387 shares during the period. Shaker Investments LLC OH purchased a new position in Global Payments during the fourth quarter worth about $1,815,000. AFS Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Global Payments in the 4th quarter valued at about $202,000. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of Global Payments by 138.5% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 24,323 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,089,000 after acquiring an additional 14,125 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Global Payments Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of Global Payments stock opened at $111.57 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $126.23 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $124.72. Global Payments Inc. has a 12-month low of $95.12 and a 12-month high of $141.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The company has a market cap of $28.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.14, a PEG ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.97.

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

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on GPN. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Global Payments from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. B. Riley lifted their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $180.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on Global Payments from $158.00 to $150.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Global Payments from $182.00 to $150.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, KeyCorp reduced their price objective 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $150.00.

Global Payments Company 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.