Investors Research Corp Sells 750 Shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Investors Research Corp lessened its position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 16.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 3,704 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 750 shares during the period. Investors Research Corp’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $470,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Penserra Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 6.4% in the 1st quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 1,389 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $190,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Global Payments by 3.8% during the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,485 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $287,000 after buying an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. boosted its stake in Global Payments by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 5,409 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $687,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. grew its holdings in Global Payments by 2.0% during the third quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 4,707 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $543,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares during the period. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital lifted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 13,740 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,828,000 after buying an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on GPN. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Global Payments from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Global Payments from $154.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. B. Riley increased their target price on Global Payments from $180.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Global Payments from $138.00 to $137.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Global Payments has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $152.31.

Global Payments Stock Performance

Shares of Global Payments stock opened at $123.12 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. Global Payments Inc. has a 52 week low of $95.12 and a 52 week high of $141.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.57, a P/E/G ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.96. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $131.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $124.16.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last released its 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 11.44% and a net margin of 10.22%. The business had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.30 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 10.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.46%.

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.