Everence Capital Management Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Everence Capital Management Inc. reduced its stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 33.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,710 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,880 shares during the quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $725,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Waverly Advisors LLC lifted its position in Global Payments by 60.5% during the third quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 19,593 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,261,000 after buying an additional 7,387 shares during the period. Shaker Investments LLC OH purchased a new position in Global Payments during the fourth quarter worth about $1,815,000. AFS Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Global Payments during the fourth quarter worth about $202,000. Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. lifted its position in Global Payments by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 19,519 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,479,000 after buying an additional 275 shares during the period. Finally, Redwood Investments LLC purchased a new position in Global Payments during the fourth quarter worth about $774,000. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Global Payments Stock Down 0.4 %

GPN opened at $122.95 on Thursday. Global Payments Inc. has a one year low of $95.12 and a one year high of $141.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $130.89 and its 200-day moving average is $124.21. The company has a market capitalization of $31.36 billion, a PE ratio of 32.53, a P/E/G ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.96.

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

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.46%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Global Payments from $154.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. StockNews.com downgraded Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. KeyCorp raised their target price on Global Payments from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Global Payments from $138.00 to $137.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Global Payments from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a 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 given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $151.92.

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.