Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Lowers Stock Position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC trimmed its position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 8.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 126,337 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 11,911 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $16,045,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GPN. Ritholtz Wealth Management lifted its stake in Global Payments by 40.0% in the third quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 4,915 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $567,000 after buying an additional 1,405 shares during the last quarter. Park Place Capital Corp boosted its stake in Global Payments by 14.6% in the 3rd quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 1,352 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $156,000 after buying an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Global Payments by 0.9% during the third quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 45,934 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,192,000 after buying an additional 390 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC acquired a new position in Global Payments during the third quarter valued at approximately $288,000. Finally, CX Institutional acquired a new position in Global Payments during the third quarter valued at approximately $211,000. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GPN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. KeyCorp raised their price target on Global Payments from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Global Payments from $138.00 to $137.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Global Payments from $154.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $145.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued 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 target price of $151.92.

Global Payments Trading Up 2.0 %

GPN traded up $2.52 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $126.75. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 179,485 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,161,928. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. Global Payments Inc. has a 52-week low of $95.12 and a 52-week high of $141.77. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $130.06 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $124.47. The firm has a market cap of $32.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.87, a PEG ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.96.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last released its 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 company had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.18 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 11.44% and a net margin of 10.22%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.30 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Global Payments Inc. will post 10.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.79%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.46%.

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.