Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Shares Sold by WESCAP Management Group Inc.

WESCAP Management Group Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 7.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,926 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 520 shares during the period. WESCAP Management Group Inc.’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $776,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Global Payments by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,995,107 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,800,952,000 after acquiring an additional 179,195 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 25.0% during the fourth quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 8,298,846 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $929,969,000 after purchasing an additional 1,659,984 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Global Payments by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,230,322 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $696,362,000 after purchasing an additional 301,877 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Global Payments by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,499,729 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $564,437,000 after purchasing an additional 83,481 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Global Payments during the 4th quarter worth about $345,823,000. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on GPN. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Global Payments from $156.00 to $149.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 14th. Stephens cut shares of Global Payments from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $125.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. StockNews.com upgraded Global Payments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Global Payments from $166.00 to $163.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on Global Payments from $138.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.10.

Global Payments Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE GPN opened at $98.30 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $103.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $107.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.97. Global Payments Inc. has a 52 week low of $90.99 and a 52 week high of $129.35. The firm has a market cap of $24.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.91, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.04.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last announced its earnings results 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). Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.21% and a net margin of 15.54%. The company had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.31 billion. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.02%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is 16.18%.

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.