Blair William & Co. IL Has $3.25 Million Stock Holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Blair William & Co. IL reduced its stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 21.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 28,976 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 7,720 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $3,247,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GPN. Tidal Investments LLC raised its stake in Global Payments by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 26,946 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,760,000 after buying an additional 86 shares during the period. Sage Capital Advisors llc raised its position in shares of Global Payments by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Sage Capital Advisors llc now owns 28,232 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,164,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the period. SYM FINANCIAL Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp now owns 2,440 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $250,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA grew its position in Global Payments by 11.2% in the 4th quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 992 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $111,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, Truvestments Capital LLC increased its stake in Global Payments by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 3,685 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $413,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GPN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $135.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Global Payments from $166.00 to $163.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $122.00 price objective (down from $155.00) on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Stephens cut Global Payments from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their target price for the company from $125.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price target on Global Payments from $156.00 to $149.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $134.10.

Global Payments Stock Performance

Shares of GPN stock opened at $98.09 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $103.51 and its 200 day moving average is $107.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.87, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.04. Global Payments Inc. has a 12 month low of $90.99 and a 12 month high of $133.63. 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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.98 by ($0.14). The company had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.31 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.21% and a net margin of 15.54%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Global Payments’s payout ratio is presently 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.