USS Investment Management Ltd Sells 7,003 Shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

USS Investment Management Ltd reduced its stake in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 10.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 56,962 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 7,003 shares during the quarter. USS Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $6,385,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Global Payments during the 4th quarter worth about $18,342,000. Woodline Partners LP acquired a new position in shares of Global Payments during the 4th quarter worth about $7,723,000. Vident Advisory LLC grew its position in shares of Global Payments by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 10,382 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,163,000 after buying an additional 172 shares during the period. Sone Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Global Payments during the 4th quarter worth about $3,006,000. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP acquired a new position in shares of Global Payments during the 4th quarter worth about $863,000. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on GPN. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Global Payments from $105.00 to $77.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Global Payments from $115.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Cowen lowered Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Williams Trading set a $75.00 price objective on Global Payments in a research report on Friday, April 18th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price objective 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 investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Global Payments presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $112.43.

Global Payments Trading Down 0.0%

NYSE:GPN opened at $75.71 on Friday. Global Payments Inc. has a twelve month low of $65.93 and a twelve month high of $120.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $84.06 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $101.04. The company has a market cap of $18.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.96.

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

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.13%.

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.