Fisher Asset Management LLC Sells 3,724 Shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Fisher Asset Management LLC reduced its stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 7.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 45,025 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 3,724 shares during the quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $5,046,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GPN. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 65.6% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,982,496 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $203,047,000 after purchasing an additional 785,539 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 1,559.6% in the 4th 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 during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position 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 worth $271,090,000 after buying an additional 490,411 shares in the last quarter. Soros Fund Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Global Payments in the third quarter valued at about $47,113,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in Global Payments by 925.5% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 417,832 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $42,794,000 after acquiring an additional 377,087 shares during the period. 89.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Global Payments

In other news, Director Robert H. B. Baldwin, Jr. purchased 5,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The shares were bought at an average price of $116.00 per share, for a total transaction of $672,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 42,738 shares in the company, valued at $4,957,608. This represents a 15.70 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.98% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Global Payments Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE GPN opened at $99.67 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $24.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.13, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.04. Global Payments Inc. has a 12 month low of $91.60 and a 12 month high of $140.38. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $108.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $108.91. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.84 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.98 by ($0.14). The business had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 predict that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 1.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.18%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on GPN shares. Stephens cut 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 research report on Friday, January 10th. 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 report on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com upgraded Global Payments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $122.00 price objective (down from $155.00) on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. 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 assigned a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $134.33.

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.