Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Shares Sold by Wedge Capital Management L L P NC

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lessened its stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 8.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 126,337 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 11,911 shares during the quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $16,045,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Global Payments by 40.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,346,779 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,078,525,000 after acquiring an additional 2,703,434 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its position in Global Payments by 40.5% during the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,142,771 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $591,613,000 after purchasing an additional 1,481,714 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,499,860 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $403,849,000 after purchasing an additional 116,664 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in Global Payments by 2.7% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,402,869 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $392,657,000 after buying an additional 89,057 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in Global Payments by 338.3% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,288,108 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $379,416,000 after purchasing an additional 2,537,941 shares during 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 research firms recently issued reports on GPN. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Global Payments from $154.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. B. Riley boosted their target price on Global Payments from $180.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Global Payments from $185.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Global Payments from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $151.92.

Global Payments Stock Up 2.0 %

Shares of NYSE:GPN traded up $2.52 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $126.75. The stock had a trading volume of 179,485 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,161,928. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $130.06 and its 200 day moving average is $124.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. Global Payments Inc. has a 12 month low of $95.12 and a 12 month high of $141.77. The company has a market capitalization of $32.33 billion, a PE ratio of 32.87, a PEG ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.96.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The business services provider reported $2.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.18 billion. Global Payments had a net margin of 10.22% and a return on equity of 11.44%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.30 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Global Payments Inc. will post 10.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.79%. Global Payments’s payout ratio is currently 26.46%.

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.