Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC Reduces Stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC reduced its stake in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 10.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,219 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 363 shares during the period. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $360,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Global Payments by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,995,107 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,800,952,000 after purchasing an additional 179,195 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Global Payments by 25.0% during the 4th quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 8,298,846 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $929,969,000 after buying an additional 1,659,984 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Global Payments by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,230,322 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $696,362,000 after acquiring an additional 301,877 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in Global Payments by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,499,729 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $564,437,000 after acquiring an additional 83,481 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Global Payments in the 4th quarter valued at about $345,823,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on GPN. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $122.00 target price (down previously from $155.00) on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Stephens cut shares of Global Payments from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $125.00 to $120.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. StockNews.com raised Global Payments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of Global Payments from $140.00 to $135.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on Global Payments from $135.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. One equities research 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $134.10.

Global Payments Stock Down 8.8 %

GPN opened at $84.82 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $20.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.72, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.97. Global Payments Inc. has a 12 month low of $81.23 and a 12 month high of $129.35. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $102.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $106.76. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.84 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.98 by ($0.14). Global Payments had a net margin of 15.54% and a return on equity of 12.21%. The company had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.31 billion. On average, equities analysts expect that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.