Malaga Cove Capital LLC Sells 1,634 Shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Malaga Cove Capital LLC reduced its stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 13.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 10,348 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,634 shares during the quarter. Malaga Cove Capital LLC’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $1,314,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of GPN. BluePath Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Global Payments during the third quarter worth about $27,000. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Global Payments during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Global Payments in the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its stake in Global Payments by 77.7% during the third quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 407 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 178 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CVA Family Office LLC bought a new position in shares of Global Payments in the fourth quarter worth about $50,000. 89.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of Global Payments from $158.00 to $150.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Wedbush upped their price target on shares of Global Payments from $130.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. StockNews.com downgraded Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. KeyCorp lowered their target price on Global Payments from $155.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, B. Riley lifted their price target on Global Payments from $180.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $150.00.

Global Payments Trading Up 0.8 %

GPN stock traded up $0.83 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $111.37. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,191,218 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,029,470. The company has a market cap of $28.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.97. Global Payments Inc. has a 12 month low of $95.12 and a 12 month high of $141.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $127.50 and its 200 day moving average price is $124.69.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The business services provider reported $2.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.18 billion. Global Payments had a net margin of 13.40% and a return on equity of 11.72%. Global Payments’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.30 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Global Payments Inc. will post 10.95 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.90%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.84%.

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.