Avanza Fonder AB Sells 499 Shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Avanza Fonder AB reduced its position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 2.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 18,725 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 499 shares during the quarter. Avanza Fonder AB’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $1,865,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GPN. Private Trust Co. NA grew its stake in Global Payments by 11.2% in the 4th quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 992 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $111,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC grew its stake in Global Payments by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 3,685 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $413,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its holdings in Global Payments by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 10,963 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,228,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. increased its holdings in Global Payments by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 3,288 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $368,000 after purchasing an additional 122 shares during the period. Finally, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. raised its position in Global Payments by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. now owns 33,902 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,795,000 after purchasing an additional 122 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Global Payments from $105.00 to $77.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $75.00 price target for the company. in a report on Friday, April 18th. TD Cowen cut shares of Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $78.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $166.00 to $163.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eighteen have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $110.91.

Global Payments Trading Down 1.3%

NYSE GPN opened at $79.64 on Thursday. Global Payments Inc. has a 12-month low of $65.93 and a 12-month high of $120.00. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $78.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $97.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The stock has a market cap of $19.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.89, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.93.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The business services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.73 by $0.09. Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.21% and a net margin of 15.54%. The firm had revenue of $2.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.20 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.59 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Global Payments’s payout ratio is 16.13%.

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.