Asset Management One Co. Ltd. Sells 1,115 Shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lessened its holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 1.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 98,878 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,115 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $11,109,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Tidal Investments LLC raised its position in Global Payments by 0.3% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 26,946 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,760,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares during the period. Sage Capital Advisors llc increased its stake in shares of Global Payments by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Sage Capital Advisors llc now owns 28,232 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,164,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp lifted its stake in Global Payments by 4.1% in the third quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp now owns 2,440 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $250,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust grew its holdings in Global Payments by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 2,068 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $232,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the period. Finally, Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators grew its holdings in Global Payments by 27.2% during the third quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 543 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the period. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Global Payments Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE GPN opened at $105.67 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.90, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.93. Global Payments Inc. has a one year low of $91.60 and a one year high of $141.77. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $110.97 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $108.60.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.84 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.98 by ($0.14). The business had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.31 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 11.94% and a net margin of 13.61%. As a group, analysts expect that Global Payments Inc. will post 11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.83%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GPN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $122.00 price target (down previously from $155.00) on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $118.00 to $115.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Global Payments from $143.00 to $130.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $166.00 to $163.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Finally, Stephens cut shares of Global Payments from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $125.00 to $120.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $135.76.

Insider Activity at Global Payments

In other news, Director Robert H. B. Baldwin, Jr. purchased 5,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $116.00 per share, with a total value of $672,800.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 42,738 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,957,608. This represents a 15.70 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.98% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.