Geneva Capital Management LLC Sells 54,827 Shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Geneva Capital Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 38.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 88,758 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 54,827 shares during the period. Geneva Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $9,946,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Global Payments by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 6,638,862 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $679,952,000 after purchasing an additional 215,399 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Global Payments by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,928,445 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $605,078,000 after purchasing an additional 31,934 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in Global Payments by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,499,729 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $564,437,000 after purchasing an additional 83,481 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in Global Payments by 13.4% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,949,458 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $330,516,000 after purchasing an additional 349,457 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in Global Payments by 22.7% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,646,854 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $271,090,000 after purchasing an additional 490,411 shares in the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GPN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com raised Global Payments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Global Payments from $166.00 to $163.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $122.00 target price (down from $155.00) on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Citigroup lowered their target price on Global Payments from $138.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Global Payments from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Global Payments presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.33.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Robert H. B. Baldwin, Jr. purchased 5,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $116.00 per share, for a total transaction of $672,800.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 42,738 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,957,608. This trade represents a 15.70 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.98% of the company’s stock.

Global Payments Stock Performance

GPN stock opened at $100.32 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $108.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $108.85. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The firm has a market cap of $24.84 billion, a PE ratio of 16.23, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.04. Global Payments Inc. has a 1-year low of $91.60 and a 1-year high of $140.38.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.84 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.98 by ($0.14). The business had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.31 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.21% and a net margin of 15.54%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.00%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.18%.

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.