Blue Trust Inc. Has $39.57 Million Stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Blue Trust Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 0.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 404,066 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 260 shares during the quarter. Global Payments makes up approximately 0.5% of Blue Trust Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position. Blue Trust Inc. owned about 0.16% of Global Payments worth $39,566,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GPN. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Global Payments in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $345,823,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 1,659,984 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 75,379.7% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 1,517,141 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $148,558,000 after purchasing an additional 1,515,131 shares during the last quarter. Contour Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Global Payments in the fourth quarter worth $147,695,000. Finally, Focused Investors LLC bought a new stake in Global Payments in the fourth quarter worth $99,969,000. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Global Payments Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GPN opened at $76.06 on Thursday. Global Payments Inc. has a 1-year low of $65.93 and a 1-year high of $120.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The stock has a market cap of $18.55 billion, a PE ratio of 12.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.93. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $77.49 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $95.89.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The business services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.73 by $0.09. Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.33% and a net margin of 15.48%. The firm had revenue of $2.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.20 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.59 EPS. The business’s revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid 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 1.31%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.13%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of Global Payments in a report on Monday, April 21st. Cowen cut shares of Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Williams Trading set a $75.00 price objective on shares of Global Payments in a report on Friday, April 18th. Wolfe Research reiterated a “peer perform” rating on shares of Global Payments in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lowered shares of Global Payments from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $86.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, April 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eighteen have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $110.91.

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.