Greatmark Investment Partners Inc. Sells 1,489 Shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Greatmark Investment Partners Inc. decreased its position in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 2.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 56,633 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,489 shares during the quarter. Greatmark Investment Partners Inc.’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $7,192,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Global Payments by 40.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,346,779 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,078,525,000 after acquiring an additional 2,703,434 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its stake 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 worth $591,613,000 after acquiring an additional 1,481,714 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Global Payments by 3.4% during 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 acquiring an additional 116,664 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake 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 valued at $392,657,000 after buying an additional 89,057 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 2,537,941 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GPN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. B. Riley upped their price target on shares of Global Payments from $180.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. Susquehanna upped their price target on shares of Global Payments from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Global Payments from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Global Payments from $138.00 to $137.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Global Payments from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $151.92.

Global Payments Stock Performance

NYSE:GPN traded up $0.61 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $125.18. 1,460,168 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,141,045. Global Payments Inc. has a one year low of $95.12 and a one year high of $141.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.93 billion, a PE ratio of 33.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.96. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $129.19 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $124.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last released its quarterly 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 net margin of 10.22% and a return on equity of 11.44%. The business had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.18 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.30 earnings per share. Global Payments’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Global Payments Inc. will post 10.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is 26.46%.

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.