Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Shares Sold by Waverly Advisors LLC

Waverly Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 5.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 51,411 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 3,064 shares during the period. Waverly Advisors LLC’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $5,761,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 179,195 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 25.0% during the fourth quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 8,298,846 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $929,969,000 after acquiring an additional 1,659,984 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,230,322 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $696,362,000 after acquiring an additional 301,877 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the fourth quarter valued at $345,823,000. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,906,444 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $325,698,000 after acquiring an additional 259,590 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Global Payments Stock Performance

Global Payments stock opened at $79.69 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $84.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $101.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.43 billion, a PE ratio of 12.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.97. Global Payments Inc. has a one year low of $65.93 and a one year high of $120.00.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The business services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.73 by $0.09. Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.21% and a net margin of 15.54%. The company had revenue of $2.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.20 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.59 EPS. Global Payments’s revenue for the quarter was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.25%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.13%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on GPN shares. Royal Bank of Canada lowered Global Payments from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $86.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, April 25th. TD Cowen lowered Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $78.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Williams Trading set a $75.00 price target on Global Payments in a research note on Friday, April 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Global Payments from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price target on Global Payments from $156.00 to $149.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $112.43.

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.