Summit Trail Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Summit Trail Advisors LLC trimmed its position in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 5.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,934 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 178 shares during the quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $373,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Global Payments by 40.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,346,779 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,078,525,000 after purchasing an additional 2,703,434 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of Global Payments by 338.3% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,288,108 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $379,416,000 after buying an additional 2,537,941 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Global Payments in the third quarter worth approximately $197,875,000. Boston Partners lifted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 40.5% during the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,142,771 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $591,613,000 after acquiring an additional 1,481,714 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alkeon Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Global Payments by 119.0% during the third quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,085,772 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $125,287,000 after buying an additional 590,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Global Payments Stock Performance

GPN opened at $110.01 on Wednesday. Global Payments Inc. has a twelve month low of $95.12 and a twelve month high of $141.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.08 billion, a PE ratio of 22.00, a PEG ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.97. 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 firm’s 50-day moving average price is $126.61 and its 200 day moving average price is $124.81.

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

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is currently 19.84%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on GPN. Wedbush lifted their price target on Global Payments from $130.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. KeyCorp cut their target price on Global Payments from $155.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of Global Payments from $182.00 to $150.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt lowered their target price on shares of Global Payments from $175.00 to $165.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. One research 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 MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $150.00.

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.