ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Has $806,000 Position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. reduced its stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 21.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,346 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,686 shares during the period. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $806,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Greenleaf Trust increased its stake in shares of Global Payments by 15.9% in the 4th quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 2,303 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $292,000 after acquiring an additional 316 shares during the last quarter. KFG Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Global Payments in the fourth quarter worth $225,000. Xponance Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 32,774 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,162,000 after buying an additional 347 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in shares of Global Payments by 25.7% in the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 112,996 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $14,350,000 after buying an additional 23,105 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt raised its stake in Global Payments by 70.4% during the 4th quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 564 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $72,000 after buying an additional 233 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Global Payments Price Performance

Shares of Global Payments stock traded down $0.08 on Friday, reaching $122.10. 1,065,055 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,823,207. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99. The firm has a market cap of $31.15 billion, a PE ratio of 32.31, a P/E/G ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.96. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $130.33 and its 200-day moving average is $124.23. Global Payments Inc. has a one year low of $95.12 and a one year high of $141.77.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The business services provider reported $2.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.18 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 11.44% and a net margin of 10.22%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.30 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Global Payments Inc. will post 10.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.82%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.46%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GPN shares. B. Riley upped their target price on shares of Global Payments from $180.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Global Payments from $154.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. TheStreet raised Global Payments from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $151.92.

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.