First Horizon Advisors Inc. Reduces Position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

First Horizon Advisors Inc. trimmed its position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 12.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,363 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 471 shares during the quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $427,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GPN. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 58.1% during the third quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 11,684 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,348,000 after purchasing an additional 4,295 shares during the period. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. lifted its holdings in Global Payments by 11.9% in the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 2,904 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $335,000 after buying an additional 308 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Global Payments by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 43,274 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,993,000 after buying an additional 1,240 shares during the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. increased its stake in shares of Global Payments by 2.0% during the third quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 4,707 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $543,000 after buying an additional 94 shares during the period. Finally, Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. raised its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 2.7% during the third quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. now owns 129,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $14,885,000 after acquiring an additional 3,400 shares in the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GPN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $160.00 to $152.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $182.00 to $150.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Citigroup reduced their target price on Global Payments from $163.00 to $155.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Wedbush raised their target price on Global Payments from $130.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Global Payments from $145.00 to $159.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $150.00.

Global Payments Stock Performance

GPN stock opened at $111.37 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $127.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $124.69. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. Global Payments Inc. has a 12-month low of $95.12 and a 12-month high of $141.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.43 billion, a PE ratio of 22.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.97.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last announced its quarterly 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. Global Payments had a return on equity of 11.72% and a net margin of 13.40%. The firm had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.18 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.30 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 10.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.90%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.84%.

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.