Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Holdings Trimmed by Capital City Trust Co. FL

Capital City Trust Co. FL trimmed its position in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 2.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 27,665 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 787 shares during the period. Capital City Trust Co. FL’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $3,100,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its position 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 worth $679,952,000 after purchasing an additional 215,399 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position 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 worth $605,078,000 after purchasing an additional 31,934 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position 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 worth $564,437,000 after purchasing an additional 83,481 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position 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 worth $330,516,000 after purchasing an additional 349,457 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 490,411 shares in the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GPN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Global Payments from $118.00 to $115.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Bank of America lowered their price target 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. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Global Payments from $138.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Global Payments from $135.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded 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 assigned a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.33.

Insider Activity

In other Global Payments news, Director Robert H. B. Baldwin, Jr. bought 5,800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $116.00 per share, with a total value of $672,800.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 42,738 shares in the company, valued at $4,957,608. The trade was a 15.70 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.98% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Global Payments Stock Down 2.3 %

Global Payments stock opened at $103.19 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $109.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $108.82. The firm has a market cap of $25.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.70, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.93. Global Payments Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $91.60 and a fifty-two week high of $140.38.

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

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.18%.

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.