Atria Investments Inc Lowers Stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Atria Investments Inc lowered its holdings in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 19.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 7,943 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,907 shares during the quarter. Atria Investments Inc’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $890,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 13.4% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,949,458 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $330,516,000 after purchasing an additional 349,457 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in Global Payments by 65.6% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,982,496 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $203,047,000 after acquiring an additional 785,539 shares during the period. Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new position in Global Payments during the third quarter valued at $562,000. Caprock Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 2,313 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $259,000 after acquiring an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 106.1% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 50,705 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,682,000 after buying an additional 26,104 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on GPN. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Global Payments from $138.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Bank of America dropped their target price on Global Payments from $156.00 to $149.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Global Payments from $166.00 to $163.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. 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 report on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on Global Payments from $135.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.33.

Global Payments Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of GPN opened at $92.16 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $106.42 and a 200 day moving average of $108.29. The company has a market cap of $22.82 billion, a PE ratio of 14.91, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. Global Payments Inc. has a 52-week low of $90.99 and a 52-week high of $136.36.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.98 by ($0.14). The business had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.31 billion. Global Payments had a net margin of 15.54% and a return on equity of 12.21%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Global Payments’s payout ratio is 16.18%.

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.