Greatmark Investment Partners Inc. Lowers Stock Position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Greatmark Investment Partners Inc. cut its position in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 3.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 53,617 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,168 shares during the quarter. Greatmark Investment Partners Inc.’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $6,008,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GPN. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Global Payments by 25.0% during the fourth quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 8,298,846 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $929,969,000 after buying an additional 1,659,984 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in Global Payments by 65.6% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,982,496 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $203,047,000 after buying an additional 785,539 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Global Payments by 1,559.6% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 548,833 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $61,502,000 after buying an additional 515,763 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in Global Payments by 22.7% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,646,854 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $271,090,000 after buying an additional 490,411 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Global Payments during the fourth quarter worth $53,700,000. 89.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GPN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Stephens downgraded shares of Global Payments from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $125.00 to $120.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $135.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $156.00 to $149.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Global Payments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.33.

Global Payments Price Performance

Global Payments stock opened at $94.15 on Friday. Global Payments Inc. has a 12-month low of $90.99 and a 12-month high of $136.36. The stock has a market cap of $23.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.23, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $106.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $108.18. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.98 by ($0.14). Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.21% and a net margin of 15.54%. The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.31 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.06%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Global Payments’s payout ratio is currently 16.18%.

Global Payments 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.