Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Holdings Trimmed by Sierra Capital LLC

Sierra Capital LLC reduced its position in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 7.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,569 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 211 shares during the quarter. Sierra Capital LLC’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $288,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in Global Payments by 13.4% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,949,458 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $330,516,000 after buying an additional 349,457 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in Global Payments by 65.6% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,982,496 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $203,047,000 after acquiring an additional 785,539 shares in the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new position in shares of Global Payments in the 3rd quarter valued at about $562,000. Caprock Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Global Payments by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 2,313 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $259,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 106.1% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 50,705 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,682,000 after purchasing an additional 26,104 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Robert H. B. Baldwin, Jr. purchased 5,800 shares of Global Payments stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $116.00 per share, for a total transaction of $672,800.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 42,738 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,957,608. This represents a 15.70 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.98% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GPN has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Global Payments from $166.00 to $163.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $138.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Stephens downgraded shares of Global Payments from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $125.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $122.00 price target (down previously from $155.00) on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Global Payments from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $134.33.

Global Payments Price Performance

Shares of GPN stock opened at $103.83 on Tuesday. Global Payments Inc. has a 12 month low of $91.60 and a 12 month high of $140.38. The company has a market capitalization of $25.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.80, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.01. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $109.74 and a two-hundred day moving average of $109.00. 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 issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.84 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.98 by ($0.14). Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.21% and a net margin of 15.54%. The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.31 billion. As a group, equities analysts expect that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.