Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas Sells 2,330 Shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas cut its stake in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 12.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 16,207 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,330 shares during the quarter. Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas’ holdings in Global Payments were worth $2,058,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Foster & Motley Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the fourth quarter valued at $402,000. North Star Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Global Payments by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. North Star Asset Management Inc. now owns 232,529 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,531,000 after buying an additional 967 shares during the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its position in shares of Global Payments by 73.0% during the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 60,246 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,651,000 after buying an additional 25,414 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC boosted its position in shares of Global Payments by 42.0% during the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 28,998 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,683,000 after buying an additional 8,575 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its position in shares of Global Payments by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 25,648 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,257,000 after buying an additional 456 shares during the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Global Payments Price Performance

NYSE:GPN traded down $0.43 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $126.44. The stock had a trading volume of 419,875 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,154,020. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.25 billion, a PE ratio of 33.58, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.96. 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 company has a 50 day moving average price of $129.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $124.56. Global Payments Inc. has a 52 week low of $95.12 and a 52 week high of $141.77.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last announced its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Global Payments Inc. will post 10.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on GPN. TheStreet raised Global Payments from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Global Payments from $145.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on Global Payments from $185.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Global Payments from $154.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $151.92.

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.