S&CO Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

S&CO Inc. trimmed its holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 38.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,582 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,242 shares during the period. S&CO Inc.’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $401,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of GPN. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Global Payments in the third quarter valued at $25,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in Global Payments in the 3rd quarter worth about $33,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Global Payments during the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 177.5% in the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 469 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Stephens lowered shares of Global Payments from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $125.00 to $120.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Global Payments from $138.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com upgraded Global Payments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Bank of America lowered their price target on Global Payments from $156.00 to $149.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Global Payments from $166.00 to $163.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 14th. 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $134.33.

Insider Transactions at Global Payments

In other Global Payments 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 bought at an average price of $116.00 per share, for a total transaction of $672,800.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 42,738 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,957,608. This trade represents a 15.70 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.98% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Global Payments Price Performance

GPN opened at $97.06 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.93. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $107.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $108.63. The firm has a market cap of $24.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.70, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.04. Global Payments Inc. has a 1 year low of $91.60 and a 1 year high of $140.38.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.84 earnings per share (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, analysts predict that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.03%. 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.